


It's Always Sunny in Shadyside

by out_the_blue_of



Category: Andi Mack (TV)
Genre: Alternative Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternative Universe - High School, And all that fun stuff, Angst, Blood, Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Freeform, Bullying and Homophobia, But with a happy ending of course, Ethical Dilemmas, Falling In Love, Friendship, It's All Pretty Soft, Mutual Pining, Vampires, background ambi, background muffy, but like that's kind of obvious I guess, like more than I originally thought, only a lil bit
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-17
Updated: 2019-11-12
Packaged: 2019-11-19 13:52:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 55,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18136601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/out_the_blue_of/pseuds/out_the_blue_of
Summary: TJ hasn't known anything but solitude in a long time. Hiding behind the caricature of a bad boy -moody, rude and unattainable, people usually stay away. All but one...Cyrus always sees the best in people, and if anyone is going to get TJ to open up, it's him. Suddenly torn between his life in the shadows and the life of a teenager, TJ finds himself lost as his past catches up to him.Because being a vampire is hard, but damn it, going to high school is harder.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> About three things, I was absolutely positive.
> 
> 1\. I'm very grateful for you reading this story, I hope you enjoy it. 
> 
> 2\. This story is not in any way related to It's always sunny in Philadelphia. I just couldn't resist. The name is the only thing this work and that TV show have in common. On purpose at least. I love the show, but like, this story is not that. 
> 
> 3\. You do absolutely not need to read the notes at the end, seriously just scroll past it. There's no valuable information there. Read it if you want to, but there's nothing there of value.

So far, Shadyside did not live up to it’s name. 

The thought crossed TJ’s mind as he carefully separated his blinds with two chopstick he only owned for that one exact reason and sunlight poured through, hitting the opposite wall in a flood of light. He quickly retreated the chopsticks, making the light disappear in a snap as the blinds closed, but the sudden light had already gotten to him and he could feel the headache gnawing at the back of his head.  

He wasn’t surprised though. By now he had spent three weeks in Shadyside, all of them inside until the sun finally went down. This place didn’t seem to have heard of rain. 

Sighing, TJ dragged himself to the kitchen. He was pretty sure the stiff, groggy feeling in his body was what humans usually would describe as “feeling dead”. They were wrong, of course, but TJ could see where they were coming from. There was a surging feeling of hunger low in his stomach, and figuring that maybe the first day at a school filled with people wasn’t the best day to go out starving, he dug through his refrigerator to find the milk cartons he had hidden in the back, the special kind with blood instead of actual milk. Those cartons were usually for emergencies, but seeing the weather and the challenge of going to school with a bunch of humans, TJ wanted to make sure hunger was the least of his problems. Today would be hard enough without urges to bite classmates in the neck. 

The refrigerator was filled with food, all of it outdated by now, but it had been one of the first things TJ made sure to do when he first got the apartment. In case of an impromptu visit, he needed to look as human as possible. An extra perk was the milk cartoons ability to hide blood from unsuspecting eyes. He just had to remember to not offer eventual guests any milk in their teas. 

No one had come and visited him during his first three weeks in Shadyside, not even his social worker, but TJ liked to be prepared anyway. The longer he could stay in one place without being discovered, the better.

TJ grabbed a straw out of a kitchen drawer and stuck it down the opening of the carton. It was mainly to avoid any traces of blood on the packaging but TJ had to admit, it did feel extra fancy with a straw. Very different from sucking the blood straight from a living creature. Not as messy.

The second the thick liquid hit his tongue, TJ could feel his body spring to life. Whatever gnawing feeling he had felt in the back of his head was long gone, his head felt light and alert, the stiffness in his body was replaced with a limber, almost floating feeling. He did feel a small sting on the inside of his bottom lip, knowing that the blood probably had brought out his fangs. 

Closing his eyes, he let the blood consume him for a moment. His body was screaming for more, craving every drop it was offered. It had been a long time since TJ wasn’t dead, and this was the only time he felt even close to what he used to be. Had it been any other time, TJ would’ve scoffed at the irony of only feeling alive when drinking blood. 

Knowing full well that this would be the highlight of his day, TJ forced himself to stop before emptying his whole stash of bottled blood. He checked the carton for accidental blood spill before begrudgingly putting it back into the refrigerator. 

Composing himself from the rush, he made his way to the bathroom. He washed his face, trying to go back to his normal state of numbness. His fangs usually shoot right out when he was either hunting or feeding, it was barely noticeable except for the occasional sting on his bottom lip. Getting them back inside however was a different story.  Painful willpower, he’d describe it as. 

He leaned forward, examining his face in the mirror. Out of all the lore humans did get right, TJ was happy the no reflection theory wasn’t part of it. Hiding his true self would’ve been much harder if he walked around without a reflection. He thought about it as he scraped some left over dried blood out of the corner of his mouth, then rinsed with water. He brushed his teeth thoroughly, making sure there was no traces of blood, either in the scent or the appearance. He didn’t feed that often, every third night or so depending on how much. He was extra careful when he just had, seeing as poor dental hygiene was a ridiculous reason to get outed as a vampire. ”Why do you smell like blood?” ”Uh…” Yeah, no. 

Once he was done and he poured some hair gel in his hands and dragged them through his hair. When you spent the whole night sleeping upside down, hanging by your kneecaps inside a closet, your hair takes on an upwards position by itself and shows no signs of folding. TJ figured an excessive usage of hair gel would be an easier, more believable explanation to the defiance of gravity shown in his hair. 

Giving his face a once-over and deciding that he looked good enough, TJ pulled a dark hoodie over his head. He dressed in jeans of the longest kind and put on his sunglasses to protect his highly sensitive eyes from the sun. He pulled on a pair of socks and his old converse, making sure nothing of his skin was sticking out. 

Then he braced himself for impact. 

The light hit him like a truck when he stepped outside of his dark apartment and into the hallway. The amount of windows right outside his door was enough for him to be momentarily blinded by the strong light, despite his sunglasses. Had it not been for the blood he had consumed earlier that morning, his head would feel like exploding by now, but because of the power he had gotten from feeding, it was manageable. He did however realize that he was going to have to get a lot more blood if he was going to survive living in the light from now on. The nights were not at all as draining as the days were. 

TJ kept his head to the floor, covered by the hood of the hoodie to keep from being hit directly by the sun. Sun through windows were nowhere as bad as direct sunlight on his skin, but he still tried to avoid it to all costs. Nowhere as bad was still bad enough. 

TJ was careful to keep his head to the ground to avoid any direct sunlight hitting it, as he stepped outside. The walk to the school wasn’t far, he had made sure to visit the grounds during night to see how far it would be there, and what he was walking with. The building was made of a lot of glass, which wasn’t ideal. He could handle the sun through windows, it was bad but not a thousand burning needles prodding his skin bad. As long as he could get to the inside, he’d be fine. 

After walking less than five minutes, the brown building with the words ”Jefferson High” in bold letters plastered on the front entered his view. Placing himself with the sun on his clothed back, he stopped to just take in the school. The school yard was filled with friends reuniting, seeing as it was the first day back, and as he watched people hugging and talking with big smiles, he felt a sting of loneliness in his stomach. 

He shook his head, trying to get rid of the feeling. Being alone was nothing new, he barely recognized the feeling since he had known nothing but for the longest time, and any feelings of longing were merely pointless seeing as friends would bring him nothing but trouble. 

He set his determination for the opened entrance, ignoring the groups of people gathering in front of the school. Zigzagging through the hoard, he could feel people looking at him, and he knew what they were thinking. They probably thought they knew exactly what kind of person he was, dressed in a black hoodie and jeans on the first day back from summer. Their assumptions were probably wrong. But as long as he kept the image of moody and unattainable, then no one would talk to him. In the end of the day, that was the goal. 

He reached the entrance, and scanned for people looking easily fooled. With the sun still in his back, he approached a ginger kid with braces and thick glasses, looking exactly like the kind of nerd he needed right now. 

”Hey” he said, catching the kids attention. The kid looked frightened upon TJ’s arrival, which he considered a good thing. Scared people were easier to get things out of. 

”Hi” the kid said with a nervous grin. 

”Can I go inside through there?” He gestured to the entrance, trying to keep his voice and body casual. All he needed now was a yes, and he was good to go. 

The kid, however, did not comply. ”That is the main entrance, yes” he said slowly, and it wasn’t good enough. TJ felt annoyance growing inside him. 

”So I can enter through there?” He said, trying to keep his voice calm. 

”Are you new?” The kid asked, a look close to fascination spreading on his face. TJ wasn’t going to pretend he didn’t want to punch this kid in the face.

”Yes” he said, through gritted teeth. It was important he remained calm, otherwise bad things might happen. 

”Gus” called a voice from behind. TJ would’ve whipped around to see who was speaking, had it not been for the sun that would burn his face with no mercy. Instead he watched as the kid, Gus presumably,’s face lit up.

”Hi, Jonah!” he said, smiling widely. ”How was your summer?”  
”It was great” A guy with brown hair and green eyes came into view, locking hands with Gus and pulling him into what could only be described as the typical ”bro-hug”. The guy smiled brightly as he greeted his friend, and didn’t let his face drop as he turned to TJ.

”Hi! I’m Jonah. Jonah Beck” he said, extending his hand for TJ to shake. TJ, with the body temperature below normal human temperature, ignored his hand and nodded his head instead. 

”Sup” 

Jonah’s smile faltered a little as he let his hand drop again, but he quickly composed himself. ”Are you by any chance TJ?” 

”Uh… yeah” Alarm bells started going off in his head. Why the hell did this random dude know his name? ”How did you know that?”

”Metcalf asked me to show you to his office” Jonah explained, without actually explaining. 

TJ raised an eyebrow. ”Metcalf?”

”The principal” Gus piped in. 

Jonah glanced at him. ”Yeah, the principal. Come on, I’ll take you to there”

Out of their short conversation, TJ concluded that Jonah didn’t seem the type to secretly carry around a wooden stake or silver chains. He seemed… simple. A little naiv maybe, with that permanent smile and go lucky attitude. TJ decided to take a gamble. 

”Can I come inside?”

Jonah gave him a weird look. ”Yeah, of course” he said. TJ kept his face straight, but he was instantly filled with relief. Silently, he followed Jonah. 

”Bye Gus!” Jonah yelled over his shoulder. TJ simply said nothing. That guy had been nothing but a bother. 

Despite wearing sunglasses, TJ could tell immediately that this school was filled with color. The lockers were light blue and those that were opened had insides filled with colorful patterns, the walls were filled with bright posters and even the people inside were all dressed in everything but black and white. The whole place felt too upbeat for a high school. Like the perfect illusion. It struck TJ that the shade in Shadyside might not come from the weather after all. 

Jonah led him through the corridor to a glassed-in office on the other side of the school. All the way there they had gotten weird looks, TJ could suspect why, but more than that had they been stopped by people wanting to talk to Jonah. It didn’t take TJ long to figure out that Jonah was liked by everybody. People wanted to know how his summer had been, if he wanted to hang later and have you been working out? TJ kept rolling his eyes behind his sunglasses. Never once did Jonah drop his smile or nice attitude and TJ couldn’t even imagine doing something similar.

As they entered the office, Jonah saluted a lady sitting by a desk, typing frantically on a keyboard. She stopped when she saw Jonah and waved, exchanging her irritated look with a warm smile. It immediately dropped once she spotted TJ though, eyes widening in surprise. TJ pretended not to notice her. 

Jonah went up to a door with a sign saying ”Principal Metcalf” on it. He knocked and as he waited for an answer, he offered a smile that TJ read as apologetic. TJ could tell he stressed Jonah a little bit, probably because he challenged the norm of "everyone loves Jonah Beck". It was more enjoyable than TJ cared to admit. 

The door opened and a man stepped out. He had silver hair and dark eyes and was dressed in a dark flannel suit. His face broke up in a smile the second he spotted Jonah and TJ, but something about his smile seemed manufactured. It didn’t quite reach his eyes. 

”Ah” he clasped his hands together. ”You must be mister Kippen. Please come inside”

He opened up his door and stepped aside, making room for TJ to enter. TJ stepped inside to a very bland office, not matching the rest of the school’s exterior, but maybe, TJ thought, more representative of what the school was really like. What most schools were like. White walls, a bland wooden desk and cabinets, blinds drawn, no posters, no pictures, and one potted, very plastic plant by the window. TJ immediately felt more at home in this office than the rest of the school.

”Thank you, Jonah” Metcalf said with authority, but he still kept it to a first name basis. TJ stopped himself from scoffing. This was getting ridiculous. ”If you could just stick around and show mister Kippen around, that would be great. This will just take a moment” 

TJ could see Jonah straining a little, but he still nodded dutifully. ”Absolutely” 

Metcalf closed the door and gestured for TJ to sit. He sat down opposite of him, intwined his hands on the desk and paused for a moment. ”We are very happy to have you here” he then said, in a matter-of-factly tone. 

TJ gave him a wide, insincere smile and immediately dropped it back into the same frown he had been wearing since he got there. Metcalf’s eyes grew cold in quite a terrifying way.

”Humor me” he said, any trace of emotion gone. ”We both know about your background, but it doesn’t have to be defining you from the get go. You’ve been given a second chance. This place could be great if you gave it a chance”

TJ didn’t know how to respond to that. He did want to point out that Metcalf had no idea about his background. He did want to point out that he had been hearing the same exact thing from his social worker and she also had no idea about his background. His actual background, not the one on the papers. But there was something different about Metcalf, and it made TJ feel uneasy. 

When Metcalf realized he wouldn’t get an answer he cleared his throat and pulled out a sheet from a drawer under his desk. He slid it over to TJ.

”Here’s your schedule. And here’s” he pulled out another paper ”your locker number and code. If you have any questions, you can ask any of us in the staff, as well as the students” he paused again to get a response. When he didn’t get one, he sighed. ”Got any questions?”

”Nope” TJ said shortly, getting ready to get up and leave, but was stopped.

”One more thing” Metcalf said, holding up a hand. ”We are all for free expressions at this school, through clothing and so on but…” he trailed off, looking at TJ’s sunglasses. ”We find it important to make connections, and therefore I am going to have to ask you to lose those” he said, again nodding to the glasses. 

”I… I have sensitive eyes” TJ tried half-heartedly. ”Bright lights, you know….” 

Metcalf sighed again, looking at him with feigned sympathy. ”I know, but without an official report from a doctor or a optician there’s nothing we can do”

TJ felt anger rising iside him. ”That’s bullsh-”

”Mister Kippen” Metcalf looked at him pointedly. ”I understand you feel that way, but if you don’t take them off I will have no choice but to confiscate them” 

TJ wanted to fight back. For a second he imagined releasing everything he had inside him, the force, one step and he would never have to deal with Metcalf again. Every ounce of his being screamed for him to do it. But the thought scared him more than the sun ever could. He used all his willpower to swallow down the anger that was burning inside him. 

Slowly he reached up and pulled off his sunglasses, and was immediately blinded by the intense light of the gloomy office. It felt almost as if staring straight into the sun, not that he had ever done that. It felt like what TJ imagined staring straight into the sun felt like. 

Slowly the contours of the office started to fade in, TJ kept blinking as the room formed around him. In the midst of it all, TJ could only think about how lucky it was he fed this morning, or this transition would have been unbearable. Now, as the world started to exist of shapes and colors again, TJ could calm himself down, adjusting to the change. 

Metcalf was wearing a smug smirk when TJ looked at him, and he felt something inside him burning again. He needed to get out of this goddamned office at once. Sometime during TJ’s blast of brightness, Metcalf had moved from his desk to the door and was now holding the door handle. 

”I take it we’re done here?” He asked. TJ didn’t answer. He collected his papers and got up from his chair, making his way over to the door. Metcalf opened it widely, to let him out. Overwhelmed by a new force of light, this time with nothing covering the windows, Tj stumbled out if the office and almost collided with a figure standing outside. 

Managing to stop right in front of the person, TJ blinked, trying to distinguish any features from the light. 

TJ had assumed it to be Jonah, and was surprised when he wasn’t met by a big smile or even frightened green eyes, but by a shocked face he didn’t recognize. In front of him was a boy with dark hair and big brown eyes, staring at him with wide eyes and a slightly open mouth. Struck by the moment, TJ found himself unable to think of anything to say, or even to move out of the way. 

”Oh, mister…” TJ heard Metcalf’s surprised voice from behind. 

”Uh” the boy blinked a couple of times, still staring into TJ’s eyes. ”Goodman” he said as he finally looked away, looking to Metcalf instead. 

”Goodman, yes” Metcalf cleared his throat. ”Where’s Jonah?” 

”He’s… something came up. He asked me to fill in for him” Goodman explained apologetically. TJ watched him move, nervously weighing from one foot to the other. 

”Well, then why don’t you show mister Kippen around” Metcalf proposed. ”And Kippen” TJ stubbornly refused to turn around to meet him and Metcalf continued. ”If I catch you wearing those sunglasses inside, I will have no choice to suspend you” 

TJ rolled his eyes at Goodman, who looked at him with amusement in his eyes. Behind him, he heard the door close.

”We had a whole thing about dress codes only last year, seems that didn’t amount to anything” Goodman stated. His gaze flickered to the door and then over to TJ again and he smiled sheepishly. ”Sorry, Jonah had to leave. I hope this is okay. I’m Goodman” then his eyes widened again. ”I mean Cyrus” 

”TJ” TJ said, feeling the ghost of a smile graze his face. For a second, TJ was afraid Cyrus was going to stick his hand out, and TJ would have to ignore it the way he had with Jonah, but thankfully he didn’t. Somehow it seemed harder to reject Cyrus like that.

”Come on” Cyrus gestured to the door. ”I’ll show you around” 

TJ silently followed Cyrus out to the corridor, watching as Cyrus nervously looked around. Once seeing, or not seeing whatever he was nervous about not seeing/seeing, he relaxed and started the tour. 

Cyrus took TJ through the many corridors and classrooms of Jefferson High, pointing to different doors and explaining where they led to. TJ was listening absentmindedly, tuning in and out, but mostly he found himself watching the boy. The way he moved around, brightly but timidly and the way he smiled the people he met, despite not always getting a smile back. 

Cyrus also had a talent for just continuing talking if no one cut him off. He kept explaining even though no questions were asked. TJ suspected he was working with some nervous energy, but he found it strangely amusing. Usually when people talked too much TJ wanted to rip his own ears off, but with Cyrus it was almost… comforting. 

”And here’s the art room” Cyrus stopped outside a door which was clearly leading to the art room, not only was the door covered in paint, it also said ART with big, red letters. ”This is one of my friends’ favorite class, so I hang here a lot” 

He was about to continue when TJ asked, ”Why?”

Cyrus stopped dead in his tracks, looking at TJ with a shocked expression. This was the first time TJ had spoken since he introduced himself, he realized. ”Huh?”

”Why do you hang out here if it’s your friend’s favorite?” TJ asked, fully aware of how judgmental he sounded. 

”Because she’s my friend…” Cyrus said, sounding unsure behind his reasoning. ”I go to all my other friend’s basketball games as well” he added with a defensive edge to his voice. 

”Jonah?” TJ couldn’t help but ask. Jonah wasn’t tall enough for basket ball, but in a place like this anything seemed possible. Even short, smiley guys playing basketball.

”No” Cyrus said. ”He plays baseball and ultimate frisbee” 

”What do you do?” TJ asked curiously, catching Cyrus off guard. 

”Uh” the shock on his face was replaced by a sheepish smile.”You know… I do stuff”

”What kinda stuff?” TJ felt the amusement showing on his face. Cyrus’ eyes sparked.

”What do you do?” He asked challengingly, before catching himself in a wide-eyed realization. ”I-”

”I walk around looking edgy” TJ said with a serious face, before breaking out in a full on smile. 

Cyrus was take aback for a second, before his face broke up and he threw his head back and laughed wholeheartedly. TJ thought it was one of the most beautiful sounds he’d ever heard. It even distracted him from Cyrus’ exposed neck. 

He grinned, meeting Cyrus’ eyes, and for a moment just enjoyed it. He hadn’t so much as smiled at someone for ages. It was like a new territory, wonderful but oh so terrifying. But it was also forbidden territory, TJ thought bitterly. Making friends, especially with someone as… good as Cyrus, was not a privilege he had. 

”Homo!” Shouted a hateful voice from behind TJ; he had been too distracted by Cyrus to notice someone coming at them from behind. He spotted the two guys just as one of them bumped in to Cyrus, very clearly on purpose and hard enough for Cyrus to stumble and slam straight into the lockers they were standing by. ”Watch where you’re going” the guy had the nerve to say. 

TJ went straight into attackmode, feeling his body ready itself and his mouth warming with his fangs ready to shoot out. The two guys were both taller than him with a muscular build. Had the circumstances been normal, the guys would’ve been able to take both him and Cyrus without much of a match. But nothing about the circumstances were normal, TJ thought as he estimated exactly how fast he could have them both bleeding out on the floor, gasping for air. He didn’t know if it was the blunt force and inconsideration, or if it was the fear in Cyrus’ eyes that ticked him off but oh, he was ready. 

The guys seemed to notice that something wasn’t quite the way it should. One look at TJ and the confidence in their faces and stances were replaced with a look of uncertainty. TJ could swear he saw fear in their expressions as they tapped each other and mumbled something about leaving. TJ didn’t take his eyes off of them until they had hurried around the corner. 

Disappointment fell over him as he realized were he was and what he was doing, and quickly he shook his head to get a grip on whatever he could pass off as humanity again. 

Cyrus was staring after the guys with a gaping mouth as if he couldn’t believe his eyes. He looked to TJ with wonder in his eyes, and TJ found himself taken out of his primal, animalistic state much faster than he was used to. Suddenly the urge to rush after the guys and suck all the blood out of their neck vanished and he was taken back to the same colorful hallway outside the same messy door.

”Sorry ’bout that” Cyrus said, despite not being in the wrong. ”It’s 2019, you’d think people would get over it”

He looked at TJ, waiting for a response. TJ could tell it was a silent question, a test of sorts, a way to find out if he was one of those people. Silently, Cyrus wondered if TJ would turn out to be one of the people who needed to get over it. 

TJ did want to tell him that between having to drink blood to survive, not being able to handle direct sunlight and literally being dead, the sexuality of other people, or himself for that matter, fell pretty far down on his list of problems. It didn’t even make the honorable mentions. Obviously he couldn’t say that, and settled for a ”Yeah”

Cyrus gave him a smile, but it didn’t quite reach the eyes. ”Come on” he said, clapping TJ on the fabric-covered arm before heading down the hall, the opposite direction of the assholes that had just left. TJ glanced at where Cyrus’ hand had touched his arm, feeling the spot growing warm and tore his eyes away, focusing on following him instead.

”So, why did you move here?” Cyrus asked, as TJ came up beside him. He quickly added, ”You don’t have to answer”

”I just needed a change of scenery” TJ said, and even though it was a heavily watered down version of the truth, he kept it ambitious enough to not actually be lying. 

”Cool” Cyrus nodded thoughtfully. ”How do you like Shadyside so far?” 

”It’s very… sunny” TJ said with distaste. Cyrus grinned.

”Yeah, the name is kind of misleading. I like it though. There’s a lot of cool things, like a this old-school diner with the best baby taters” he said dreamingly. ”You gotta try them sometime” he added.

”Baby taters?” TJ scoffed softly, not having eaten any human food for ages. He didn’t recall ever eating a so called "baby tater", but he also had troubles remembering the taste of a plain potato, so he didn’t think any earlier experience would count either way.

”Don’t judge” Cyrus gave him a firm look, but broke out in a smile a moment later. ”They’re delicious. Especially with milk shakes” 

”I have a strict diet” TJ said, again not technically lying. ”A lot of stuff I can’t eat. Allergies you know” he added, which was less closer to the truth. 

”That sucks” Cyrus said sincerely.

”You get used to it” TJ shrugged. 

They turned a corner and was immediately greeted by a tall boy with brown hair standing by his locker, face turned to his phone. He looked up upon them approaching and grinned when he spotted Cyrus ”Cy!”

”Marty, hey!” Cyrus greeted him back, taking his hand in his and slapping him on the back. ”How are you?”

”I’m good” Marty smiled, but his eyes kept flicking over to TJ unsurely, who was standing next to Cyrus with an expressionless face. ”You?”

”All good” Cyrus said easily. He then looked over to TJ. ”This is TJ. TJ, this is Marty” 

TJ nodded to Marty, not changing his expression. ”Sup” 

”Hey” Marty said, smile wavering. He glanced at Cyrus, confused over their connection. Just as he was about to ask his phone received a message. He checked it quickly, and gave Cyrus and excusing smile. ”I have to go, I’m meeting Buffy before… the thing”

”The back to school assembly?” Cyrus asked. 

”Yeah, that!” Marty pointed at him, as if he was a genius. ”See you later?”

”You bet” Cyrus said. Marty’s gaze flickered to TJ one last time before raised his hand as a goodbye gesture and left. 

”Is that your basketball friend?” TJ asked once he was out of hearing range. 

”No, that would be Buffy” Cyrus explained. 

”Buffy? As in…”

”As in the vampire slayer, yes” Cyrus filled in, with a fond smile on his face. ”It’s fitting, she’s kind of obsessed with vampires” 

TJ felt his face fall, but couldn’t help it. It could be a coincidence, right? Most likely was Buffy someone who felt attached to the vampire slayer as young because of their shared name, right? He still had an uneasy feeling rushing through his body, triggering his fight or flight response. 

Cyrus noticed the change in TJ’s expression, and quickly added, ”She’s not weird, I promise! Well, not in that way anyway. I mean, we’re all a little weird, aren’t we?” 

”Yeah” TJ breathed. 

”Here’s the cafeteria by the way” Cyrus said, quickly moving to a door a close to them down the hall. ”The food here is pretty good, actually. And on Fridays we get muffins!” 

TJ chuckled. ”I bet it is” 

”Oh right. The dietary restrictions. Sorry” Cyrus said, cringing. He looked curious, like he wanted to ask about it but decided against it, which TJ was thankful for. He hadn’t thought about it that much, and would end up saying something either suspicious or that just sounded bad. 

”Are the muffins as great as the milkshakes though?” TJ asked, stroking his chin whilst pretending to think about it. Cyrus burst out laughing. 

”I swear I don’t only eat sugar”

”Sure” TJ dragged it out, teasingly. He was grinning and it felt weird, like he was using muscles he hadn't in forever. It felt good. ”Don’t forget about the baby taters”

”I eat a lot of broccoli too, okay?” Cyrus protested. 

”Okay” TJ said. Their eyes met, both smiling. Cyrus had a birthmark on his cheek, TJ noticed. His smile was also almost radiating. 

TJ looked away after just a moment too long, but the uneasy feeling had already settled in his stomach. This was not the plan. This was far from the plan. It was like the whole plan was derailing, fast. And TJ needed to get back on track. 

”Should we head to the gym? You know for the assembly” Cyrus suggested. TJ looked at him for a second before looking away, down the hall. 

”You go. I just… need to use the bathroom first” he said, still not meeting Cyrus searching eyes. 

”Okay” Cyrus said, keeping a steady voice but the lightness from before was gone. ”I’ll save you a seat?” 

”Don’t bother” TJ said. ”I’ll find somewhere to sit” 

And then, without casting Cyrus as much as a glance, he turned around and left. Behind him stood a boy wondering what had gone wrong.

 

***

Cyrus really didn’t want to think about how abruptly TJ had departed, but it was like his brain refused to focus on anything else. Except for maybe the occasional thought of how nice TJ’s smile was and how being on the receiving end of that smile felt exclusive. But mostly, Cyrus kept replaying their conversation over and over, picking apart the bits and pieces, trying to figure out if there was something that could have ticked TJ off. The conversation had felt natural, flowing, Cyrus almost forgot that they had just met. 

He figured that’s why he felt so rejected by the way TJ had left him. 

”Cyrus!” Buffy’s voice, heard over the heavy murmur coming from the mass of people in the overflowing gym, called as soon as Cyrus stepped inside, immediately dragging him out of his own head. He searched the crowd, looking for his friends, and soon spotted Buffy, Andi and Jonah sitting in the middle of the hoard, high up on the bleachers. All of them were waving for him to come to them, Buffy patting her bag that occupied the place meant for him. 

Getting to them was a challenge. Cyrus had to physically climb over people to get to his friends, who had not taken him in to consideration when choosing a seat. After mumbling apologies to the people he had to step over and occasionally, accidentally hit in the face with his bag, he reached them.

”What took you so long?” Andi wondered the second he sat down. Buffy, Cyrus and her had met up earlier, before Jonah texted Cyrus and in stressed manner asked him to come and fill in, and reunited despite having seen each other all summer. ”I thought you were just showing the new kid around?” 

”Well, it’s a big school” Cyrus said simply, shrugging.

”And did you… what? Lose him?” Buffy wondered playfully, looking around dramatically to see if she could spot the unfamiliar face in the crowd.

Cyrus huffed, breaking out in a smile. ”He had to go to the bathroom” he said before quickly changing the subject. ”Weren’t you supposed to meet up with Marty before?” 

”I did” Buffy shrugged nonchalantly, but Cyrus could see the faint blush on her cheeks. ”He’s sitting with his friends” 

She looked over to where Marty was sitting and Cyrus followed her gaze, just as Marty looked over and waved to them with a grin when he saw them looking. Buffy waved back, smiling. Beside her, Andi and Jonah shared a look. 

”We were just discussing what Metcalf was like in high school” Andi told Cyrus, nodding towards where Metcalf was standing by a temporary podium in the middle of the sport court. ”I think he was a nerd”

”Buffy and I literally saw him getting tattoos” Jonah protested. 

”Yeah, but like a repressed nerd” Andi said. Jonah looked at her in confusion. ”Like he’s living out his punk dreams now because he didn’t when he was younger” 

Jonah looked skeptical, but before he could counter her, Buffy chimed in. ”I still think he’s a vampire” 

”Buffy, you can’t say that about every pale person you meet” Cyrus countered. It was a known fact among the four of them that Buffy threw around the word vampire a lot. 

”Ok, but have you ever actually seen him out in the sun, though?” Buffy said confidently, smirking as if she had said something groundbreaking. ”Think about it. Have you ever seen Metcalf in an outside setting?” 

A silence fell among them, all of them considering their answer. Cyrus admitted to himself that, no, he hadn’t actually. 

”See?” Buffy was triumphant, taking the moment of silence as a victory. 

Before anyone could dispute her undeniable facts, the light went down in the gym and a spotlight, which Cyrus considered to be a new investment since he had never seen them use it before, appeared, centered at the temporary podium. Metcalf stepped up, gaining the the entire room’s attention. 

”Welcome back everyone!” Metcalf used as a start of what would most likely be a long and tiring speech about school values and spirit. Cyrus listened half-heartedly, letting his eyes roam the bleachers filled with old and new faces. There was one face he couldn’t find though.

”What are you looking at?” Buffy whispered, noticing Cyrus’ drifting eyes and lack of focus on the person speaking. 

”I’m looking for TJ” Cyrus said sincerely. ”I just hope he didn’t get lost”

”Lost among literally everyone else heading to the gym?” Buffy deadpanned. Cyrus gave her a look. 

”Thank you, by the way” Jonah whispered, eyes filled with guilt and gratitude. ”He was making me really anxious, thank you for stepping in” 

”It’s ok” Cyrus said sincerely. In the end, he really didn’t mind it. He had no idea that had been the reason, though. ”He was actually really nice” 

Jonah looked at him in disbelief. ”Really? He barely said a word to me, and he completely ignored me when I went to shake his hand” 

”Marty said he was cold when he met him” Buffy recalled. 

”Maybe he’s just shy?” Andi suggested. Cyrus nodded agreeingly, giving Andi a grateful smile.

”Yeah! He was quiet at first with me too, but then he was really nice once we started talking” He deliberately left out the part where TJ completely ditched him, mostly because he was trying to ignore that part himself. The parts before that, the way TJ had smiled widely as he laughed, those parts he wanted to remember. 

”You do have a talent for getting people to open up” Buffy commented. She said it as if it was nothing, but it still warmed Cyrus’ heart. 

”Hey, by the way” Buffy’s eyes lit up, leaving TJ behind and moving the conversation forward. ”My dad’s out this Friday, I was thinking movie night!” She sang. ”You in?”

”Totally!” Jonah said.

”Yeah” Andi nodded, and then smiled shyly. ”Can I invite Amber?” 

”Fine” Buffy said. ”Only if you promise to behave. No loud making out during the movie” 

”Ok mom” Andi deadpanned, but her face had grown a deep red shade. 

”She doesn’t need more of those” Cyrus said to Buffy, who burst out laughing, earning several Shh’s from people around them. Andi’s mom history was a quite peculiar one, and once the initial shock of finding out your sister is actually your mom and your mom is actually your grandma, it became the punchline of many jokes. Andi, often the one making them. 

”Will you be there?” Buffy asked Cyrus, after giving the people behind her dirty looks.

”Of course” That she even had to ask. 

”Great! So it’ll be us, Amber and Marty” Buffy concluded quickly. 

”Marty?” Cyrus asked, obnoxiously wiggling his eyes brows. Buffy shoved him playfully.

”Yes, Marty” she said, giving him a look clearly stating that she would hear nothing of it. Cyrus laughed quietly and looked back out over the many people on the bleachers, only to spot a familiar face near the exit. 

”There he is!” he whispered, before he could stop himself. TJ was standing leaned by the exit, bored look on his face. Around him, Cyrus could clearly see people looking back, whispering, but TJ didn’t seem to notice and if he did, he didn’t care. 

”Who?” Buffy wondered, following his gaze. 

”TJ” Cyrus said.

”Wait, that’s TJ?” Andi said with eyes widened by surprise. 

”Yes…” Cyrus said, looking at her with brows furrowed in confusion. 

”Do you know him?” Jonah asked, equally confused.

”He’s one of Cece’s kids” she explained.

”What?!” Cyrus exclaimed.

”You’re not supposed to know that” Buffy said, looking at Andi suspiciously. Andi’s close relative Cece was a social worker, and her work was (supposed to be) confidential.

Andi looked guilty. ”I saw him through the window as Cece picked him up, okay” she confessed. 

”Does that mean he has his own place?” Buffy asked. ”He probably lives in the apartment buildings right?” 

”Probably” Andi nodded, not giving into the conversation. Cyrus could tell she felt bad for telling them. Generally, they told each other everything, but since Andi wasn’t supposed to know to begin with, she was technically giving away confidential information. 

Cyrus didn’t say anything, but he figured Buffy was probably right. The Shadyside apartment buildings was situated on the outskirts of the town, not that far from Jefferson high. Cyrus had never been inside those apartment buildings, but he had seen the grey apartment buildings rising behind the rows of houses. It was never spoken about in Shadyside, but the people living in the apartments and the people in the houses were not generally people that associated with each other a lot.

Cyrus let his gaze wander over to TJ again. He couldn’t help but wonder about his past. Where did he come from? What brought him here? If he had been through a lot. Cyrus hoped TJ had someone close to him, who he could confide in. And if he didn’t then maybe…

No. Cyrus shook his head, and pried his eyes away. Buffy was right, he had a talent for getting people to open up, but sometimes that could be a curse more than a blessing. Right then and there, Cyrus promised himself to only befriend TJ if TJ showed interest in him, instead of seeking TJ out to see if he was alright.

But as Cyrus cast a glance at TJ’s lonely form hovering by the door, he could feel that promise ready itself to be broken.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Listen I know what people are thinking, right? Twilight, right? Vampire diaries?? maybe? Buffy ofc. Honestly I got the idea for this watching What we do in the shadows, and then it's inspired a little by Carry on by Rainbow Rowell and Let the right one in (but not much at all, don't worry lmao). I just kind of wanted to write a story about pretending to fit in without all the sparkles and the awkwardly long stares? Like lets stop with the sexy, mysterious vampires and just straight up about it being annoying. Can't eat. Can't go out in the sun. Can enter houses without being invited. It's just straight up a pain in the ass (not that I'd know, but I can imagine) (I'm not a vampire). I've tweaked the lore a little to fit the story of course, I mean some things just wouldn't work. Or at least they weren't things I wanted to pay a lot of attention to or try to figure out how to solve, so I just skipped it. It's allowed. Stephanie Meyer did it. So did literally everyone else. I still haven't read Dracula. I probably should do that some time. Idk if it's good tho. It's all old and stuff and I find that hard to read. But Dracula is like THE og, it seems like. But like there's probably more though, right? At this point I'm just rambling. I kind of cheated at made this modern day vampire thing where there's nothing about leading virgin boys to the graveyard on a black horse and stuff like that. It didn't quite fit the tone of the story. (that is actual lore on how to discover a vampire) Also it's weird as hell and I want nothing to do with it. So I'm totally writing this because I have no idea how AO3 works? I've read stuff here of course but never actually posted something. I know for a fact that notes aren't supposed to be this long, but like?? Why not?? I've written a 7 k words chapter, I need to vent. Let a person talk, will you. If whoever is reading this is on mobile, you have a looong scroll buddy. Who am I kidding, no one made it this far. I'm just talking to myself at this point. Ha! That's hilarious. Was there ever a point where I wasn't talking to myself? This is getting weird. Like Inception. Except I've never seen that movie so I have no idea. I'm going to shut up now. If anyone made it this far, you are a true hero. Seriously. Did you know that when I was young, I used to skip paragraphs in books that were longer than like five lines. I had such bad attention span. Had? Lmao who are you kidding. I just wanted the dialogue I think. Anyways. Especially when I was reading Harry Potter. I think that's why I could never keep up with what's happening in books in general. Oh my god shut up. I'm totally abusing the notes system at the moment. So I will be quiet now. If you've read this, you've taken a magical journey through my brain. It doesn't get better. Thank you for reading (the story)! Hopefully I'll see this hypothetical "you" in the next chapter. Byyeeeee


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ”We don’t think anything. We haven’t met him” Buffy said, despite clearly having a strong opinion already. 
> 
> ”Well, you’ll get the chance” Cyrus said, intently watching his fingers as they played over the strap nervously. He was hoping they’d either put two and two together, or say something like ’great, I can’t wait!!!’, but what his got was an unnerving silence. He looked up, meeting their impatient expressions, urging him to continue. With an innocent smile he said, ”I invited him to the movie night”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> About three things I was absolutely positive; 
> 
> 1\. Thank you so much to everyone who's read, commented and left kudos! This story has gotten way more recognition than I thought it ever would, and it makes me go all giggly and warm inside. The positive response has really motivated me to continue and now I'm very excited for everyone to read the rest of the story (as well as write it). So thank you, everyone!
> 
> 2\. My tumblr is @professional-that-guy if you want to follow me! I'll post updates and answer any potential questions and stuff like that there.
> 
> 3\. On to this chapter; it does contain homophobic slur, which I wanted to warn about just in case. It's only quick, but still. I didn't want to ambush anyone with the f-slur, you know? Just a small preparation for anyone who needs it. 
> 
> Without further ado, onwards with the second chapter! Enjoy!

In fact, Cyrus would break that promise only two days later. 

Jefferson high didn’t have a very long start-up, in it’s usual manner Metcalf held a speech in the gym and then classes were back to normal. No fuss, no back-to-school specials, no performances or shows. Cyrus could appreciate it in it’s simplicity, at least the school didn’t act as if starting again was something to celebrate. 

So far Cyrus had only had one interaction with Jefferson high’s resident old-fashioned homophobes, and he wouldn’t even classify it as that bad. There was some bruising forming on his lower back where he had hit the lock on the locker he had been shoved against, but their interaction had been over so fast Cyrus didn’t even have time to feel frightened. It had hit him later that night that he had no idea what TJ had done to make them leave so quickly, but he was sure he had done something. Whatever it was, he was grateful. 

Cyrus had seen very little of TJ since the assembly. He seemed like a guy to keep to himself, Cyrus concluded, and tried not to take it personally when TJ didn’t greet him as they passed each other. It had only happened once and Cyrus had been walking with Buffy and Andi, chatting loudly. He still tried to seek out TJ’s eyes, but TJ had promptly avoided any type of eye contact. 

Cyrus wasn’t going to think about it. He wasn’t going to think about it. And then he thought about it all evening. 

Whilst appreciating the non-event that was start of school, Cyrus wished the teachers had a little better understanding of after-summer sluggishness. Despite so far only having gone two days of actual school, classes were in full session and the homework had already started piling. 

It was sunny outside and he wanted to be in the park, the spoon, anywhere else but inside narrow halls with sweaty people. Summer break might be over, but the heat wasn’t, and in a hallway full of teenagers it was more than noticeable. 

Trying to endure the heat, the way all his clothes stuck to his body, and the overwhelming smell of sweat, Cyrus was standing with Andi, watching as Buffy tried to fit an entire basketball inside the narrow locker. 

”I swear it worked before” Buffy groaned, pushing the ball. ”Here, hold this” 

She handed Cyrus a string of garlic, from where it had been hanging on the inside of her locker, and tried to use the newfound free space to ease the ball inside. It didn’t work. Cyrus rolled his eyes at the object he had been handed.

”Doesn’t the school provide basketballs?” Andi asked in confusion. ”Why do you have one with you?” 

”Because I only have access to them during practice” Buffy explained with irritation in her voice. 

”That sounds fairly reasonable” Cyrus said. 

”I don’t know” Andi said. ”How are people supposed to know she’s a jock if she doesn’t carry a basketball with her at all time?” 

They both laughed, much to Buffy’s annoyance. 

”You never know when there’s a chance to practice” Buffy pulled the ball back out, admitting defeat. ”Can’t have the lack of basketballs stand in the way of excellence”

”Buffy, you’re already excellent” Cyrus assured her. She gave him a small smile. 

”Yeah” Andi agreed. ”Are you worried about your team?”

”Oh, no. My team is in great shape” Buffy said confidently. ”Watch this. Kaitlyn!” She shouted, before throwing the ball down the hall. 

Kaitlyn, who had not been paying attention and only looked up from her phone when Buffy shouted her name, had no time to dodge or deflect and was hit square in the face by the basketball coming her way with full force. Buffy gasped as she watched Kaitlyn topple to the floor. 

Buffy cursed and ran over to where her teammate had fallen. Cyrus and Andi shared a look of pure shock before following her, to see it Kaitlyn was ok.

It didn’t take long for Cyrus to see that she wasn’t. She had sat up on the floor, painfully clutching her nose which was gushing with blood. Tears prickled in her eyes and her face was paled in pain. 

Buffy was apologizing profusely as more and more people gathered around them, many to make sure Kaitlyn was ok, but even more to see what was going on, intrigued by the noise and the commotion. Multiple people were shouting things to do to stop the bleeding, all of them contradictory and to Cyrus’ knowledge, also incorrect. 

Looking away from the more and more morbid scene that was playing out in front of him, Cyrus diverted his eyes by scanning the crowd that had gathered. Most of them seemed actively invested, either trying to help or just trying to see. There was one face that stood out to him though. 

Cyrus hadn’t seen TJ before now, but there he was, by his locker just by the other side of the corridor. Any caution Cyrus had had towards TJ before flew out the window when he saw the way TJ’s face was even more pale and his expression was pained. He stood frozen, staring at the masses in front of him, with a grip around the locker door so tight his knuckles where whitening. 

Cyrus cast one glance at Buffy and Andi who were both preoccupied with trying to stop Kaitlyn’s nose from bleeding and taking her to the nurse, and in the moment decided that he wasn’t needed there. Instead he made his way around the hoards, and carefully approached TJ. 

”Hey… are you ok?” Cyrus asked once he was close enough. TJ didn’t seem to have registered his arrival until then, and looked over at him with widened eyes. At first it seemed almost as if TJ didn’t recognize him, eyes wild and distant. He blinked a couple of times and the realization was visible on his face as his expression softened. 

”It’s just…” TJ said weakly and gestured to where Buffy now had gotten people to give them space, leaving the injury on full display. His gaze stuck on the bloodied girl on the floor again, trailing off. Cyrus watched as his his expression grew hard again and clapped him on the shoulder.

”Come on” he said, as TJ snapped his head away from the scene to look at Cyrus. There was a slight look of panic in his face, and Cyrus quickly suggested, ”Let’s get out of here”

All TJ could do was nod as Cyrus closed his locker and lead him from the corridor. Keeping one hand lightly on his back, Cyrus didn’t let go until they had left the hallway and TJ finally seemed to be breathing again. 

Sitting down on a bench in an almost empty hallway, Cyrus watched as TJ sighed and rubbed his face with his hands. Soon, TJ scrunched his nose, looking around in discomfort. 

”What is that smell?” He asked, eyes searching for whatever the source could be. Cyrus couldn’t smell anything, but TJ’s gaze soon fixed on the garlic he wasn’t aware he still had with him. 

”Oh, sorry” he smiled apologetically and disposed of the garlic in nearby trashcan without thinking of it’s owner. It later dawned on him that he should’ve given it back to Buffy, but by then it was too late. 

Silence fell between them. Cyrus waited patiently for TJ to say something, but after a while it became clear he wouldn’t.

”Do you want some water?” Cyrus asked, breaking the silence. 

”No” TJ said quite harshly. ”I also don’t want to be babied”

”I’m not babying you” Cyrus said calmly, trying not to be hurt by the tone of his voice. ”I can see that you’re in pain, and I want to help” 

TJ looked at him for a moment, and something in his face changed. Cyrus couldn’t quite pin point it, but the hostile edge to his expression had disappeared. For a second Cyrus thought he looked almost…vulnerable. 

Maybe TJ felt it too, because he looked away, fixing his eyes on the drinking fountain across from them. ”Thank you” he said quietly. ”For… that” 

”No problem” Cyrus said sincerely. 

”I feel pathetic” TJ confessed, shocking Cyrus. He still couldn’t quite wrap his head around this new side of TJ, and hearing the sincerity in his voice only made it harder. ”I should be stronger than that” TJ mumbled, and Cyrus frowned.

”Everyone has things they’re afraid of. It’s part of being human” he said. TJ gave him a strange look. 

”Well, it’s still pathetic” TJ concluded, but his tone had changed. It was lighter. 

”It’s normal” Cyrus corrected. TJ looked at him for a moment before breaking up in a weak smile. A warm feeling spread in Cyrus’ chest, creeping up his neck and he continued. ”I have a fear of flamingos. Real AND plastic”

TJ huffed but the smile on his face grew wider, stronger. Cyrus smiled back, feeling pride swell in his chest at the thought of making TJ smile like that. 

”Flamingos?” TJ asked skeptical. Cyrus rolled his eyes playfully.

”Have you seen them? Terrifying!” 

”Even the plastic ones?” TJ raised an eyebrow, eyes shining. ”What did they ever do to you?” 

”I don’t trust them!” Cyrus exclaimed. ”Especially the plastic ones. They’re so… unsatisfying”

At that, TJ laughed. He closed his eyes and shook his head, and Cyrus felt his heart hammering in his chest. He hadn’t realized how much he wanted to hear TJ laugh until now. Hearing it felt like flying.

”Can’t argue with that” TJ said, still smiling. 

Out of the corner of his eye, Cyrus could see someone approaching the drinking fountain, but who that was felt irrelevant as he and TJ shared a smile.

”Do you know what would be even more terrifying though?” Cyrus said. 

”What?” TJ asked 

”Imagine flamingos… drinking blood” he presented the idea, combining their fears, shuttering dramatically. 

”Like… vampire-flamingos?” TJ asked with an amused smile on his face, but there was something behind his eyes. ”You’re right. That is terrifying” 

Cyrus had promised himself not to fall for another straight boy, but with TJ in front of him with that soft smile and the warm feeling that was spreading in his body made that promise about as hard to keep as the one he made about not approaching TJ again. 

Speaking of crushes,

”Cyrus?” Said his dear friend and ex-crush, who had just reached the drinking fountain in a sweaty manner, with joyful surprise on his face. Jonah’s smile fell in shock when he spotted TJ. ”Oh… hey”

”Sup” TJ said. In a matter of seconds TJ had transformed from smiling, open, to sour and closed. Cyrus saw it happen, and it was both incredible and quite upsetting. 

Jonah looked between the two of them with confusion written over his face. Mixed in with shock and disbelief. 

A tense silence fell and Cyrus, desperate to break it, said jokingly, ”Hot out, huh?” gesturing to the drinking fountain. 

”Huh?” Jonah glanced down at the fountain. ”Oh. Yeah” he chuckled nervously. ”Still summer” 

”It’s nice” Cyrus said. Jonah nodded. His eyes fell on TJ.

”Aren’t you warm?” Jonah asked him, a friendly smile on his face, but his voice was cautious.

TJ was silent for a moment, long enough for Cyrus to worry that he would just straight up ignore Jonah’s, if somewhat misguided, attempt to be friendly. Just as he was about to step in and say something, TJ shrugged.

”I’m cold-blooded” 

Jonah nodded understandingly. ”Cool…”

The silence fell again. Cyrus glanced at TJ, who looked at him. They locked eyes, and held it there for a moment. When Cyrus looked back at Jonah, he was staring at him with wide eyes. 

Cyrus brain worked frantically for something to say, but was saved by a loud train of people passing by the doorway at the end of the corridor. Jonah looked over and confusion spread on his face. 

”What’s happening over there?” He asked.

”Oh, I think they’re taking Kaitlyn to the nurse” Cyrus said, delighted at the conversation starter that had just barged by. 

”What happened?” Jonah’s eyes filled with concern. 

”Well… Buffy threw a ball at her” Cyrus said, and Jonah raised his eyebrows in shock. ”In her defense, she thought she was ready! Buuuut, she may have actually broken her nose” 

”Oh” Jonah got a look of compassion on his face. ”I should go and see if she’s okay” 

Cyrus cast a glance at TJ. He looked indifferent. Perhaps a little annoyed. ”Yeah” Cyrus said. He could tell Jonah wanted an out, he didn’t actually need to see if Kaitlyn was ok - she had enough people doing that already.

Jonah’s eyes flickered to TJ one last time before nodding. ”Ok, see you” 

”Bye” Cyrus said and then Jonah hurried away from them. Cyrus followed his rushed steps until he was out of sight. When he turned back to TJ, TJ looked mildly amused. 

”Is he actually needed everywhere, or is it just what he thinks?” TJ asked, but there was no malice behind his words. Cyrus couldn’t help but smile. 

”Most people in this school dream of being helped by Jonah” he said.

TJ rolled his eyes. ”I can only imagine. That must be exhausting” 

Cyrus shrugged. ”I honestly don’t know how he does it. I don’t think he knows either” 

At that, TJ chuckled. ”Wild” he shook his head. 

”Well, I bet you have a lot of wild friends as well” Cyrus teased before thinking.

TJ looked away, and Cyrus felt guilt gnawing in his stomach. Maybe it was a sensitive topic. He shouldn’t have said that. Damn it.

”I’m not... someone with friends” TJ said, eyes fixed on the opposite wall. Cyrus looked at him for a moment, watching his expressionless face. He got an idea.

”Well…” Cyrus said casually but his heart was racing, ready to jump out of his chest. ”You could be” 

TJ looked at him questioningly. ”What?”

 

***

 

Cyrus found Buffy and Andi in the cafeteria later. The minute they spotted him, they crossed their arms simultaneously, with the same stern look on their faces. They were so in sync, Cyrus would’ve laughed if it didn’t feel like the worst possible time to do so. Sometimes he felt as if he had an additional two parents to the four he already had.

”Where did you go?” Buffy asked curtly.

”I was helping TJ” Cyrus said with an attempt at nonchalance, suddenly finding the strap to his bag very interesting. He could feel their eyes following his every move. ”You guys looked like you had it under control”

”TJ?” Andi said in disbelief. 

”Yes, TJ” Cyrus said. ”He’s not as bad as you guys think” 

”We don’t think anything. We haven’t met him” Buffy said, despite clearly having a strong opinion already. 

”Well, you’ll get the chance” Cyrus said, intently watching his fingers as they played over the strap nervously. He was hoping they’d either put two and two together, or say something like ’great, I can’t wait!!!’, but what his got was an unnerving silence. He looked up, meeting their impatient expressions, urging him to continue. With an innocent smile he said, ”I invited him to the movie night” 

”You what?!” The two of them exclaimed in unison. 

”I invited him to movie night BUT…” he started, but stopped himself. They both stared at him with wide eyes. ”Well, there’s no but…”

”There’s a big but!” Buffy protested. ”It’s not your house!” 

”I know. I’m sorry” Cyrus said sincerely. ”I should’ve asked you first”

”Yes!” Buffy said. ”Cyrus, do you even know him? What if he’s like super weird”

”He’s not super weird!” Cyrus reassured, but he realized that he didn’t actually have much to back his statement. All he had was two conversations and a very vivid mental image of TJ’s smile. But that, he kept for himself. ”He’s actually really nice when you talk to him”

”That’s not what Jonah OR Marty said” Buffy pointed out. Cyrus knew he couldn’t argue with that. Instead he decided to take a new approach.

”Come on, Buffy” Cyrus pleaded. ”He doesn’t know anyone. I think you could be great friends, if you only tried” 

She was quiet for a moment, harsh expression softening slowly until she looked more conflicted than anything. ”I don’t know, Cyrus…”

”Pleeeeeease?”Cyrus looked at her with big eyes and pouting mouth, dragging the word out. He turned to his less hostile friend, looking for support. ”Andi, you’re with me, right?”

”Uh…” Andi looked at him with wide eyes, not prepared to be pulled into the conversation again. ”Yes?”

Cyrus smiled appreciatively, turning back to Buffy. ”See?” 

Buffy sighed, just looking between him and Andi, who was smiling apologetically, without saying anything. Cyrus waited with anticipation. He knew there was no way she’d say no, no matter how reluctant she was. And very well, 

”Fine” she said, throwing her hands up. ”He can come” 

”Thank you!” Cyrus exclaimed, hugging her tightly. 

Buffy laughed. Beside her, Andi smiled.

 

***

 

When Friday arrived, Cyrus felt both nervous and excited. He could admit that despite how friendly TJ was with him, it hadn’t been shown to be the case with other people. It had occurred to Cyrus that mixing TJ with his (other) friends might not actually be the best idea, but it was too late to back out now. Besides, Cyrus desperately wanted this to work. He wanted TJ to have friends, and if those friends happened to be his friends as well, then that’s even better. But he also, despite not wanting to admit it, was more dependent on his friends approval than he’d like. 

The sun was shining as Cyrus crossed the school yard to begin his walk home. It was a nice day out, and Cyrus had decided to walk, to really get the most out of the weather. That, and his mom had dropped him off that morning, and therefore he was left with no bike. Cyrus wasn’t one to complain though. A little sun never hurt. 

Minding his own business, Cyrus almost missed as someone called out for him and only noticed Jonah as he came up beside him, having jogged over.

”Cy! Hey!” Jonah said as he walking with him. ”What’s hanging?”

”Hey. Not much” Cyrus said. While him and Jonah were good friends, Cyrus would even go as far as say great friends, there was still an unchecked cool-factor that went with him that Cyrus hadn’t quite gotten the hang of and he was positive he never would. Jonah was just effortlessly charismatic and sometimes it was hard to match. Casually he asked, ”What’s up with you?” 

”I’m… confused” Jonah said, starting off strong but faltering.

Cyrus stopped and turned to Jonah, frowning slightly. Admittedly, asking Jonah what he was confused about could warrant a load of different answers, as this feeling wasn’t uncommon in association with Jonah Beck but Cyrus had an inkling what he was talking about. ”About what?” 

”Are you and TJ like… friends now or something?” He asked, eyes flicking around them as if nervous about potential listeners. 

Cyrus hesitated. The way the question was phrased left Cyrus unsure of what to say. Were they friends? He realized there was a lot of different relationship dynamics that could go under the term ’friends’. He was sure him and TJ fit at least one of them. 

He shrugged, going for the easiest response. ”I guess so” 

”Cool!” Jonah exclaimed. He was nodding and he did it a little too long for it to be passed off as genuine. ”Cool…” 

Cyrus could see right through him. ”Is that a problem?”

”No!” Jonah hurriedly reassured. ”Of course not! That’s great!”

”…But?” 

”But isn’t he like… I don’t know… like intimidating?” Jonah lowered his voice, leaning forward. He was clearly trying to find words that weren’t overtly bad mouthing TJ. Cyrus appreciated that.

”Not when you get to know him” Cyrus said sincerely. He could admit he, just like Jonah, had found him quite intimidating at first. But once they had started talking, all that went away.

”Oh” Jonah frowned. 

”I’m sure you’d be great friends if you only got the chance” Cyrus said, although doubting his own words. TJ could might as well be the first person he’d ever met to not like Jonah Beck. 

”Yeah, but I doubt that’ll happen” Jonah laughed humorlessly. ”It’s not like we’ll hang out or anything. Maybe it’s for the best”

”Um, actually…” Cyrus trailed off. Jonah looked at him, again confused. ”He’s coming tonight” Cyrus mumbled.

”What?” Jonah said in disbelief. After having to convince Buffy to let him come, Cyrus really didn’t want to take that discussion again. Although, he doubted he would have to, Jonah wasn’t one to exclude people, not matter how nervous they made him. He was, however, prone to exclude himself instead, and that worried Cyrus a bit. 

”Look he’s coming tonight, and I…” Cyrus sighed. ”I just hope everyone can at least give him a chance”

”Okay” Jonah said slowly, processing the turn of events. Cyrus could tell it wasn’t what Jonah had expected, or maybe it was wanted, but he nodded to himself before smiling. ”Sure” 

There was a wavering unsurety behind his smile, but he still managed to keep it up as he resonated. ”And Andi’s probably right, right? He’s probably just shy”

”Yeah” Cyrus agreed. He wasn’t sure it was true, but it did sound like a reasonable explanation.

”I mean, you’re good at that. So like, it makes sense” Jonah reasoned. Now Cyrus was the one confused. 

”What?” He asked. 

”You’re good at… like un-shying people” Jonah explained, waving his hand dismissively. ”You know what I mean” 

”Sure…”

”I mean, TJ seems to have opened up to you” Jonah pointed out. 

”Yeah, I’m still not sure why” Cyrus said jokingly, but there was truth behind his words. After everyone else’s apparent opinion of TJ, Cyrus still couldn’t wrap his head around why he had gotten such a different side. 

”You have like an energy” Jonah shrugged. ”You’re very… non-judgemental”

”Oh. Thank you” Cyrus said, surprised. Had it been maybe two years ago, Cyrus would’ve trouble processing that sentence without falling over. But even now, crush-less Cyrus, hearing Jonah say it warmed his heart. 

”Anyway, I should get going” Jonah pointed over his shoulder with his thumb towards a group of cars. ”I’ll see you tonight”

”See you then” Cyrus said and with that, Jonah was off. 

Their talk, although brief, had helped dampen the nervous feeling that had been with him all day; at least Jonah would give TJ a chance. Jonah’s agenda had been to be friends with anyone and everyone for as long as Cyrus had known him, and he could trust him to at least try. 

There was still a lot riding on tonight. Cyrus didn’t know if he could be friends with someone his friends didn’t like. Although something told Cyrus it would need more than that for him to stop being friends with TJ. 

Lost in his own thoughts (maybe highly centered on a certain someone, but no one had to know that), and with a light feeling in his chest, Cyrus wandered into the woods, on his way home. The woods in central Shadyside weren’t big, not something you’d get lost in, but still thick enough for not to be see-through and to give hikers and other lonesome wanderers privacy. The road that led though was wide and cared for enough for bikes to get through, but if you were to travel in car, you’d have to take the way around. 

Cyrus quite liked the woods. At least during the daytime. At night it could get scary. Buffy had proposed that they’d go into the woods once years ago, during a sleepover with only her, Andi and Cyrus. Nothing really happened, but the dark and the sudden sounds from various animals had frightened the three of them so much, they exited the woods running for their lives. Since then, neither of them had traveled through them at night. The extra mile around it was worth it. 

But when the sun was shining through the tree tops and the wind was blowing a frisky breeze through the leaves in the hot summer, Cyrus really liked it. It was a peaceful kind of quiet, one you wouldn’t often get anywhere else in Shadyside. 

In fact, Cyrus was enjoying it so much, he didn’t notice that he wasn’t alone on the road until it was too late. Until there was no where to run. 

His daydreaming ended abruptly once someone called out after him. He recognized the voice immediately and at once his whole body froze, and his heart spending up. 

”Hello, faggot” 

 

***

 

TJ didn’t know why he had said yes to coming. Why did he say yes? He knew exactly why he had said yes. 

If Jonah Beck would’ve come up to him and invited him to movie night, TJ would’ve scoffed in his face, if even that. The fact that he would accept an invite to something like that was laughable. 

But it wasn’t Jonah Beck who had invited him. 

TJ wasn’t thrilled to meet Cyrus’ friends. Between permanent-smile Jonah and hits-teammates-with-basketballs-to-the-face Buffy, it didn’t seem promising. But Cyrus had looked so excited when he proposed the idea of TJ coming, and it had almost made TJ feel excited as well. 

He recognized that it was dangerous. The way Cyrus made him want to do stuff, even go to a movie night with people he didn’t know, or cared to know. He was letting his guard down in a way he hadn’t before. The worst part was that he knew he was doing it. The worst part was he didn’t stop it. 

The first week at Jefferson high had gone better than TJ thought it would. Unexpected, yes, but better. So far no one had even seemed close to figuring out his true identity. There had been no wooden stakes or silver bullets. No one had waved any crucifixes in his face or held up a bundle of garlic to ward him off. TJ called that a win. 

On top of that, whilst hunting one night, TJ had managed to get an entire deer. Transporting the blood from the woods to his apartment had been a bitch, as well as then making sure the death of the deer seemed like a natural cause, but now he was set for at least a month. Things were really looking up. For that reason, he felt as if challenging his luck by putting himself in a potentially dangerous situation was immensely unnecessary. 

There were many reasons for TJ not to go, but he still found himself tying on his sneakers and pulling the hood over his head, leaving his apartment at sundown to head over to Buffy’s house. The same Buffy Cyrus had said was obsessed with vampires.

Every fiber of TJ’s undead body was telling him to turn around, but every time he was about to, the image of dark brown eyes and a hopeful smile appeared in his mind, stopping him from doing so. 

TJ kept replaying the way Cyrus had helped him in his head. How fixated the blood had made him, and how Cyrus made him snap out of it almost immediately. He hadn’t been lying when he said he felt pathetic. But it wasn’t the blood that had scared him, but the effects it had on him. The way his senses had been completely overtaken by the smell of it. How it had felt so close. 

But when Cyrus had come up to him, it was almost as if it wasn’t there. He was still shaken for a while after, but there were no hour periods of time for him to get back to his usual self. Suddenly he was just… back.

It was strange, but not unwelcome. So far he hadn’t met anyone who made him feel quite as…normal as he did when he was with Cyrus. 

He pulled up his phone to check the address one more time. He had discovered that Buffy lived closer to him than he had expected, which was both good and bad. Good because he had a quick escape if things got out of hand. Bad because he still wasn’t sure about Buffy and preferred having people that posed a potential threat as far from him as possible. 

Despite not wanting to admit it to himself, TJ was nervous. He had lived on the street for a period in life before getting scooped up by the Social Services and started going from foster home to foster home instead, and it had been a long time since he made actual friends. He couldn’t even remember the last time he got invited to a social gathering like this one, and he had never learned the proper etiquette. Was he supposed to bring something? Was there a dresscode? 

He badly wanted not to care, keep the indifferent stance he was sporting whenever he was around people, but this felt more important than that. This felt as if it was worth an effort. 

TJ was aware of how much Cyrus had put on a line by inviting him. And he wasn’t going to screw it up.

By the time TJ had gotten to Buffy’s house, the sun was almost completely gone, hidden behind trees and buildings, painting the sky purple. TJ pulled down his hood and took off his sunglasses, adapting to the slightly brighter word before knocking on the door. 

He was hesitant and for a moment he actually thought he’d just turn around and leave again, but condemned himself for being such a coward. You literally died and came back to life, he scoffed at himself. This is nothing.

He was late, but it had been on purpose. He wanted to leave after the sun shined the brightest, but he also absolutely dreaded the thought of coming before anyone, forcing him to be alone with Buffy. Better late than sorry. 

Taking a deep breath, he walked up to the door with determined steps, and hesitated for just a moment before knocking sharply. 

At first nothing happened, and for a second TJ was afraid he was at the wrong house, but then the door opened and revealed a tall girl with a hard face. 

TJ assumed that this was Buffy, and his heart sank a little. He had hoped for a certain someone to open the door of course, but even Jonah Beck or the asian girl with the kind face who TJ had seen them walk with a couple of times would’ve been better. There were a lot of different ways to say ”Welcome inside” but the way Buffy looked at him, he suspected he would have a hard time getting her to say any of them. 

”Hello” Buffy said reservedly, crossing her arms. ”You must be TJ” 

”That’s me” TJ said attempting to smile to appear friendlier, but it just felt awkward. He wasn’t used to smiling. ”You’re Buffy” he stated. 

Buffy nodded. 

A small silence fell between them. TJ looked at her, hoping for her to invite him inside, but once he realized that wasn’t going to happen, he sighed. 

”Can I come inside?” He asked, trying to keep an unconcerned tone to his voice to keep from the fact that he literally couldn’t if she didn’t say yes. 

And she wasn’t going to. 

Buffy raised an eyebrow. ”I don’t know. Can you?” 

TJ kept his face indifferent, but inside him her response had triggered his fight or flight reflex. He was ready to run. ”Well, it’s your house, isn’t it?” TJ deadpanned. ”You decide who gets to enter” 

A challenging look crossed Buffy’s face. ”You could walk right in. Nothing’s really stopping you, is it?” 

”Well, I’m polite” TJ pointed out, but his heart sank more and more. This felt like a losing battle. ”I don’t want to come inside if the host doesn’t tell me it’s alright” 

”And if the host doesn’t say anything, you’ll what?… just stand out here?” She asked, but it was in the tone of an accusation. 

TJ was about to give up and just leave, when someone came up behind Buffy in the doorway. 

”Come on, Buffy, be nice” the girl said, before turning to TJ with a kind smile. ”I’m Andi. Please, come inside”

TJ felt so relieved he could laugh, but settled giving Andi a small smile. He then looked at Buffy pointedly as he said, ”Thank you”

Andi had to physically pull Buffy away from the door frame to give TJ room to enter. They exchanged a look, like a quick, silent conversation, before Buffy held her hands up in surrender before sighing and then smiling, throwing TJ off a little. ”Nice to meet you” she said. 

”Nice to meet you too” TJ replied, slightly suspicious but keeping a friendly tone. 

He stepped inside the house and was immediately hit by a piercing garlic odor. He kept from pulling a face, feeling Buffy’s eyes on him, and instead tried to focus on the decor of the house. The walls were a soft beige color, covered in family pictures, there were a lot of windows and the furniture all had a personal touch to them while still keeping it clean. The house felt very… homely. 

But he didn’t miss the wooden stakes hidden behind the coats in the hallway, or the silver crosses hanging from the walls or how the overwhelming smell of garlic came from the strings of garlic hanging in the doorway. He’d had his suspicions before, but now there were no doubt. 

TJ was standing in the home of a vampire hunter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I truly mean it when I say thank you for reading. I have never had anyone read my writing before that aren't family, close friends or teachers, and the response is like overwhelming in the best way. So again, thank you. I'm trying to update this at least once a week, but I've just started working again after like six months of unemployment and it's very draining lol. One could argue that I should've done this when I had a lot of free time, but like.... I had no energy then?? Like there was no way I'd be able to write this when walking around in a grey mush ya know? So we're doing this instead. It's such a me thing to do, I have to laugh. Ha ha ha. But like really pretentiously. Like imagine a man in a white wig, a powder white face with like drawn dots on his cheek and like a little lipstick and then silk clothes or whatever with sleeves that are lace and super puffy puffy and then a blue like jacket and tights and point shoes and he's kinda throwing his head back and waving a handkerchief and laughing "Ha. Ha. Ha.". That's the kind of laugh. And then he kinda purses his lips and looks all smug and stuff. And you do want to punch him in the face, but if you do you'd get executed. Fun times. What... am I even talking about at this point? This I ask myself at least once a day. It's such a me thing to do, I have to laugh. Ha ha ha. But like really pret- I feel like we've done this before... Geez shurt up. Haha shurt. I watched Instant Hotel Australia on Netflix and there was someone names Sturt. STURT! I had no idea that that name existed. AND there was someone called Babe. As a name, I'm presuming. Is that common? Again, never heard it before. It's quite upsetting. Not to be called that, but that I've gone my whole life without knowing you could be called that. Like obviously I know people call each other 'babe' but like forcing people to call you Babe because it's your name is ridiculous. And awesome. I can't decide. Like if someone calls their significant other Babe, you're going to react. Every. Time. "Babe can you hand me this?" "What?" "...not you, random lady?". Ha ha. Sturt. (oh baby baby) It's a wild world. ANYWAYS. Last time this was at least a little related to the story. I've gone completely off the rails. I'm in Australia. Actually, the idea to this story was sparked when I watched What we do in the Shadows. And that's New Zealandic. Which is close to Australia. SCORE! In your face! Non-existant competitor. Got ya! OK Sturt up. You've overstayed your welcome. Me that is. I've overstayed my own welcome. I'm going now. I'm going. I'm gone.Thank you for reading! BYEEE!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They left the living room, both fully aware that there would be conversations about them the minute they stepped out. It didn’t feel relevant at the moment. His friends meant no harm and he had bigger things to focus on. 
> 
> Before they were out of hearing distance, Cyrus could hear Marty’s hushed voice ask ”Did a cyclist really fight two baboons in the forest?” followed by a grunt, presumably from Buffy. He smiled to himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> About three things, I was absolutely positive;
> 
> 1\. I know it's been two months. I'm sorry. Things have been intense. Hopefully next update will come sooner. BUT to make up for it, here's an almost 10k chapter! Enjoy!
> 
> 2\. This story reached more than 500 hits. I'm not entirely sure what that means, but I know 500 hundred is a big number. So, unless it means like dislikes, thank you so much for that! 
> 
> 3\. As always, thank you so much for reading! Leave a comment or kudos if you feel like it, it's always greatly appreciated! Again, thank you!
> 
> Now, onto the story. Enjoy!

There were three exits, TJ concluded as he followed Buffy and Andi through the house.

The front door where he came from, although that was at the end of a long hallway. One out to the back in the living room, but as far as TJ could see, the back was surrounded by a tall wooden fence that he probably could climb if he tried, but not fast enough if he was being chased. A big window in the dining room that, with enough force, TJ was sure he could bust through without doing too much harm to his body.

He silently wondered if any vampire ever had gotten this far into the house before. Then his mind wandered and he couldn’t stop but to wonder if any vampire ever had gotten out again. 

He knew he had to get out of there, no question. As far as laying low and off the radar, entering the house of a vampire hunter solely for the purpose of getting along with the friends of a boy he’d just met was quite the opposite of what he should be doing. The question was how. 

As they walked further and further into the house, further away from the safest exit, Buffy quietly informed him about the different rooms, offering him a small, offhand tour of the house. TJ had trouble focusing on the aspects of the house as the smell of garlic grew and grew on him. It was the type of smell that wouldn’t be too noticeable to humans and therefore made it impossible for TJ to use as an excuse as of why he couldn’t stay there. ”I’m allergic to garlic” was hardly something you’d say to a vampire hunter if you wanted to get out of their house alive. 

It reminded him of all those times his neighbor from two floors down cooked garlic and it, no matter how badly he wanted it to be, wasn’t socially acceptable to go down there and ask her to stop. He had done it once during a particularly garlic-y dish and a particularly long time since feeding on blood and he had gotten yelled at in Italian. He never went down there again. 

Just like the sun he could get used to the impacts of it, but again, just like the sun, if he didn’t have to he really didn’t want to. 

Unaware of the pungent feeling through his nose and the way his eyes where slightly watering, Andi kept giving TJ enthusiastic smiles for every room they passed, seemingly trying to make up for Buffy’s reluctance and lack of enthusiasm. The only thing TJ really took note of was the bathroom, figuring it was possibly a good place to go if he needed to get a break. He should probably go there at least once to not cast any suspicion anyway. 

Had it not been for survival purposes, TJ would’ve been ashamed of the amount of times he had googled ”normal bathroom habits”. But then again, that probably wasn’t the weirdest thing he had ever googled. He had attempted to appear human in multiple foster homes before. It had not gone great.

The house opened up into a spacious living room, glassed in with no curtains. TJ thanked whatever God there was for it being dark out, otherwise being in this very exposed area would’ve been an absolute pain. He had other things to worry about now. Like how there were three additional people smiling brightly at him in the living room, none of them the person he really wanted to see. 

The living area felt open, TJ could only imagine how it must be flowing with sunlight during the day, in the ever so sunny Shadyside. Now, at night, the room was filled with lamps, illuminating it a soft yellow light. Big couches with different colored pillows and a soft carpet covered the floor. The coffee table in front of the big tv was filled with different snacks, none of which TJ would be able to eat. It was warm and homely and TJ felt very out of place.

Andi excused himself to the kitchen with Buffy close behind, leaving him alone with the other three. It struck him that maybe they left to strategize, and he’d prefer it to be out of there before they came back, but he’d cast even more suspicion on himself if he left this early, especially without telling the host. 

Was he being paranoid? TJ preferred the term “cautious”.

He scanned the space before entering, making an assessment over the situation but also, as he rather reluctantly admitted to himself, searching for any sort of hiding spot Cyrus could poke out of. What he really didn’t need in his current situation as a vampire in the house of a vampire hunter was the one person he knew and who invited him not to be there. 

Instead of Cyrus, the room was inhabited by a girl with long blonde hair and sharp eyes, a brunette boy TJ thought he might recognize and, of course, Jonah Beck. 

There was a tense silence as soon as he entered. It lasted for just a second before the blonde girl abruptly stood up and made her way over, but it felt as if he was burning in the spotlight for minutes. He felt very exposed in a way he hadn’t experienced before, growing extremely self conscious in his current position. His disguise as human laid on him like a thin one-layered body suit and right now it felt see through. His whole existence screamed vampire. 

They didn’t seem to hear it, though.

”Hi” the girl said as she extended a hand. TJ couldn’t tell if the smile plastered on her face was real or not, but her voice was sugar sweet and she tilted her head in a way that felt somehow patronizing. She was wearing red leader gloves. ”I’m Amber, you must be TJ”

TJ glanced at her hand, making a quick assessment of the fabric. It seemed leather-like and TJ deemed it thick enough for him to touch without exposing his unnaturally cold body temperature. He took her hand in his.

”Must be” he said, with a tight smile. There was something familiar about her, not in the ’I’ve met you before’ way, but somewhere behind her eyes was a recognition TJ couldn’t quite pinpoint. She smirked at him. He swallowed nervously.

“I’ve heard a lot about you” Amber continued. TJ stopped breathing.

“Why?” He asked, feeling the stress building in his body. What if it was all a big ploy, and they were all in on it? Maybe they had used Cyrus as bait, and that’s why he wasn’t here now, because he couldn’t face the guilt? The room felt smaller. TJ glances over at the glass door at the other side of the room, preparing to escape if they were to suddenly bring out wooden stakes or silver.

But there wasn’t malice behind the girl’s eyes as she continued, 

”They’ve talked about you” she said it shamelessly, having no regards for the boys on the couch as she nodded towards them. Their faces both went red.

”Uh” Jonah laughed awkwardly, rising from the couch, nervously fixing his jeans with his hands as he stood. ”Just to give her some background information” he explained. 

TJ stared at him mercilessly. He didn’t really mean to, but he was processing. Chewed on the words, tasted them. Background information. TJ wondered what kind of background information Jonah was giving out. The last time TJ had met him, he had been very cautious not to give him anything to work with. He hadn’t said anything, which in hindsight he regretted now as Jonah was standing in front of him, clearly trying to be nice. Still, any background information he had must come from other people. 

Jonah squirmed under TJ’s gaze.

”That you’re new” he added, just as the time had gone passed the point where additions to his previous statement flowed naturally, and now instead came across as excuses.

Nervous energy was flowing through the room. TJ was calmed by it, happily knowing that he wasn’t the only one feeling uncomfortable. As long as it was awkward it wasn’t hostile, and at this point that was all he wanted until he could find a way to get out of there. 

”And know Cyrus” Jonah said, adding on. He had a frantic thinking face on, seemingly trying to come up with more information he could say he had said without being offensive or rude.

”It’s cool” TJ shrugged. Jonah’s face broke up in a relieved smile and he nodded, recognizing the out he had been given. He sat down on again.

”It’s nice to meet you again” the other guy offered. For a moment TJ had forgotten he was in the room as well. He was smiling wide, and the sense of recognition to the tone of his confused TJ.

”Yeah…” he said slowly, not really bothered to hide his confusion. 

The guy’s face fell, discouraged by TJ’s oblivion. ”Marty” he said, looking at him expectantly. When TJ’s expression didn’t change, he continued. ”We met the other day. By the lockers. You were with Cyrus”

He tried to remind TJ, but it didn’t clear much up. TJ had met a lot of people when he was walking through the halls with Cyrus, but he couldn’t remember any of them. His focus had been elsewhere. ”Right…Marty from the lockers…” 

”You must have met a lot of people that day” Amber said, again tilting her head to the side, looking at him with what could be both sympathy and patronization. She gave Marty a look. ”You’re not that special” 

”Hey!” Marty said in offense, but their banter had a playful touch to it. Amber shrugged. 

”We’re really glad you could come” Jonah said, just as Marty was about to throw a pillow over at Amber. He stopped in the middle of a movement to nod in agreement with Jonah’s statement. 

It didn’t quite feel as if it originally came from Jonah, and TJ wondered about the motivations behind it. Was this all a ploy to lure him into a false sense of security? Surely, Jonah wasn’t smart enough for that. He decided to play along.

”I’m glad as well” he said, feeling disgustingly formal. He kind of wished he had googled how to appear casual in social settings, because at the moment he was glaringly outside his comfort zone and he felt exposed in a way he hadn’t quite experienced before. 

A silence fell in the room. TJ didn’t know if it was his turn to say anything. He could tell by the way they were interacting with and around each other, he was the reason it was awkward. Had he not been there, the chatter would’ve been through the roof. The three of them seemed to be unsure in how to hold themselves to him, act around him. Normally he found that to be a good thing, it kept people away, but in the current situation he found himself in he wished more than anything that he was one of those easy going fellas, whose whole personality was built on staying silent and laughing along in the background. 

Awkwardly looking around the room, TJ found himself drawn to a painting hanging by the door. It was a portrait of a woman in her fifties maybe, staring out in the distance with a meaningful look on her face. Her hair was collected in a tight bun on the back of her face and she was wearing a dark jacket filled with medals. She was intriguing to say the least, but what caught TJ’s eye wasn’t the woman herself, but the wooden stake resting between her hands. As a prided weapon, she sternly posed with the stake, and for a moment TJ felt so threatened by the painting, he was afraid the woman would suddenly jump out of it stake him right there and then. 

He was wondered where the heck Cyrus was. The one person who could make this experience a little less painful was nowhere to be seen. 

As if able to read thoughts, Buffy reemerged into the living room, carrying a big bottle of coke, stating, ”We don’t know where Cyrus is, but he should be here any minute now. He’s not usually late”

Her words were anything but reassuring. Not usually late? TJ had come at least an hour after he was supposed to, mainly to make sure he came after Cyrus did. To avoid this exact situation. The fact that Cyrus wasn’t here yet was gravely worrying. Someone that usually wasn’t late wouldn’t come more than an hour late without a reason. 

Momentarily he wondered why none of the others were worried, but then he caught Buffy nervously checking her phone and Jonah anxiously glancing at the door. Their behavior, as well as the current, non-existent information of Cyrus’ location made TJ forget about the potential danger he himself was in. 

”What, you haven’t heard from him?” TJ asked. He earned a couple of surprised looks around the room. He wasn’t supposed to care, and they all knew it. But he was taught to trust his instincts, and the way they told him something was wrong was not helping in calming him. 

”No” Andi offered him a small smile as entered the room with a plate of cookies. She settled them down on the coffee table and took a seat next to Amber. They were sitting very close on the big, mostly empty couch. Their arms were touching. TJ hadn’t been that close with someone for years, especially not on purpose. ”But I’m sure he’ll be here soon, he wouldn’t skip out on us” 

Her words were reassuring, but the way she bit her lip and looked around the room in worry did the opposite. No one said anything and the nervous atmosphere that hadn’t gone away since he entered amplified by every silent second. 

TJ could tell this wasn’t something Cyrus did often, not only by his friends’ reactions, but by how he, every time TJ had seen him in school, had been with either Andi or Buffy or Jonah, often all three at once. They seemed to always be together, like a force not to be reckoned with. ”The power of friendship” as he mockingly used to quote to Reed when they still were in the clan. 

”I bet he just doesn’t wanna watch a horror movie” Marty exclaimed, widening his eyes and pointing his finger as if he had come to a revolutionary conclusion. He threw a playful glare Buffy’s way. His words worked as a catalyst for breaking up the tense energy in the room. Even TJ found the corners of his mouth pulling in an upwards direction.

Buffy rolled her eyes, but smiled nevertheless. ”Shut up, it isn’t a horror movie… It’s a thriller”

”Same thing” Marty said. 

”Is not” Buffy said, crossing her arms. ”Unless you’re scared” 

”Pft, scared? Me? Never?” Marty scoffed, going too far in making it sound believable.

Jonah looked between Buffy and Marty with confusion written all over his face.

”Wait, are we watching a horror movie?” He said, frowning. 

”Thriller” Buffy corrected. ”And no, we’re not. I just said that to scare Marty” 

”Well, mission failed” 

”Oh come one, you’re only here for the free food anyways” 

”Maybe I came for the food” Marty said, throwing a piece of chocolate into his mouth. ”But I stayed for the company” 

”Oh how sweet” Buffy deadpanned, but TJ could spot the redness rising in her cheeks from where he was sitting. Marty grinned widely, cheeks sporting the same red color.

TJ never quite grasped why humans seemed to have such hard time being honest with themselves and with each other. It was painfully obvious that the people in front of him like each other, but by the look of it, they had done nothing about it. He didn’t get it. Neither of them where anything other than human (that he knew of, at least). He didn’t see the problem. He felt as if though humans had a tendency to create problems where there were none. 

Whilst Buffy and Marty may had a stubborn refusal to do anything about their situation, TJ soon noticed that Amber and Andi were not the same. Amber had draped her arm around Andi’s shoulder, who had leaned into her side. They sat in a shy silence, not uncomfortable, and watched as Buffy and Marty talked.

Never did TJ think he would walk into a room and relate the most to Jonah Beck. 

Jonah was sitting at the end of the same couch as Andi and Amber with an awkward smile. TJ was, for a second, tempted to strike up the same flirtatious conversation with him as was currently going on in the room, but quickly decided against. He wasn’t sure Jonah would appreciate that kind of humor, and making enemies, as tempting as it was for distancing purposes, wasn’t going to help his current situation, he figured.

”I made cookies” Andi said, gesturing to the plate on the table. She clasped her hands together and looked at Amber with expecting eyes. 

”I’m sorry babe” Amber squeezed her shoulder. ”You know I’m on a diet” 

”Right…” Andi said. She pouted slightly, turning away to hide her disappointment from Amber. 

”I’m not” Marty announced before diving forward and grabbing a cookie. 

”Me neither” Buffy said before doing the same.

”Me neither” Jonah said and followed suit. 

It flowed like a melody, and when TJ didn’t join in, the attention suddenly was turned to him. 

”I can’t… I don’t eat gluten” He excused, hoping they’d drop it. They did not.

”They’re gluten free!” Andi said proudly. 

”Or eggs. Or milk” TJ said without missing a beat. Andi looked like she was about to tell him they were vegan as well so he continued, ”Or sugar” 

Andi’s face fell. ”Oh. That must be hard” 

TJ shrugged. ”You get used to it” 

Buffy gave him a skeptical glance but before anyone could question his food restrictions, the door bell rang. TJ jumped out of seat before he could think about, earning looks from everyone else in the room, but was soon ignored again as Buffy left to open the door, with Andi close behind. 

Anxiety set in his stomach. It was new. He didn’t know if he should follow Buffy and Andi out to meet Cyrus. If that was too hasty, too desperate. He stayed with Jonah, Amber and Marty. 

He was nervous. It was weird, because he thought Cyrus coming would take away the pressure, not add on more. But suddenly there was a newfound, anxious energy buzzing through him and he didn’t know what to do with himself. 

He heard the door open and voice speak at a low volume and grave tone. 

He didn’t know what to do with his hands.

Amber offered him a small smile. 

And then Cyrus showed up at the doorframe. 

***

”Cyrus!” Relief filled Buffy’s face as she opened the door, but it was soon exchanged for anger. ”Where the hell have you been?” 

Where had he been? Cyrus recalled crying - not an excessive amount, slow tears running down his cheeks as he was overcome with bitterness. He wasn’t sad, just exhausted. 

Andi showed up behind her with eyes full of worry and brows furrowed. ”We were so worried!” She exclaimed. When she saw his beat down expression, she softened her voice. ”What happened?” 

Cyrus had a two-second decision to make; being honest and turning a lighthearted evening into something serious or smoothing it over and pretend to be fine whilst dying inside. 

He swallowed and told something in between. ”I had an… altercation”

”Altercation?” Andi frowned. 

”With who?” Buffy crossed her arms and glared at him with hostility, not aimed at him but at whoever caused him harm. A sense of security fell on him, and he sighed. 

”I think you know who” 

The majority of Jefferson high’s students and the people around him had barely batted an eye when he came out, to the point where it almost felt underwhelming. There were some people who treated it as juicy gossip, whispering about him in the halls and randomly came up to him to show their unwavering support, which was nice to hear despite coming from complete strangers. But whatever fuss there was about this, to many completely unknown, dude coming out as gay, it died down after a week or so, as soon as ”Casey made out with Vincent!!!” Or ”Did you know Tracy and Scott broke up?”. 

People simply did not care. 

Except for two people, two people that had soon become the subject of many of Cyrus’ nightmares. They were about a year older than Cyrus, and they seemed to have missed the memo that homophobia isn’t cool anymore. 

Suddenly, the unsolicited support Cyrus had received hoops of earlier was nowhere to be seen. No one were to stand against the resident bullies of Jefferson High. Cyrus wasn’t the only one targeted, but it didn’t make it less painful. 

Buffy’s eyes were burning but Cyrus didn’t have the energy for more anger at the moment, so he looked at her pleadingly  
”Can I come inside?”

”Of course” Buffy hugged him tightly before stepping aside to let him in. As he stepped into the house, the familiar sense of security wrapped around him like a hug. He could physically feel his shoulders release tensions and heart rate decrease. 

Like a warm blanket, but in the form of a house. 

Cyrus tried to get rid of the bad feeling whilst walking through the house, with Andi’s arm securely around his shoulders, and once he reached the living room he was able to return the smile on his friends’ faces. He didn’t like how all of them had a sympathetic touch to their expressions when they looked at him, but he choose to ignore it.

TJ was there. Cyrus couldn’t help but notice. A part of him was actually surprised he had showed up, so much of his general attitude said he wouldn’t. There he was. Cyrus didn’t know what to do with that information. 

”What happened?” It was Jonah who asked, cautiously as if afraid to be stepping out of line. Cyrus could tell it was the question they all wanted to ask as the silence grew louder in the wait for his response. 

”Oh, you know” Cyrus knew TJ was there, but he wasn’t going to pretend what happened hadn’t happen. TJ was with him when they pushed him in the hall, TJ knew. The others knew since before. There was no point in sugar coating it. ”two baboon like creatures. Me, alone in the woods. What could go wrong?” 

The expressions he was met with were worry, mixed with anger and resentment. There were two faces that didn’t match the rest; TJ, who kept his face stone cold in a way that made it impossible for Cyrus to read what he was thinking, and Marty, who, completely unaware of the tone of the room, looked at him in surprise induced excitement.

”You met baboons? In Shadyside?” He asked with an awestruck voice. Buffy slapped him on the arm, but it made Cyrus smile. 

”I wish” he said, then retracted his statement. ”Actually, I don’t. They’d be totally out of their element and potentially dangerous” his mind drifted. ”Hey, wanna hear a fun fact about baboons?”

”Cyrus, did something happen?” Andi interrupted him, voice breaking. ”Are you okay?” 

”No, I was saved by a cyclist. I mean, yes, I’m okay” Cyrus clarified. He felt the rushing feeling of relief he had felt when that woman on a bike had arrived and threatened to call the cops. But there was still the burning feeling in the back of his head that this wasn’t the last time. Especially not now when they were angered. 

”God I’m so sorry, Cyrus”

”We should’ve been there” 

Cyrus scoffed, but his heart was filled with love. ”I can’t be reliant on body guards, I can take care of myself” 

”Didn’t you talk to the Metcalf?” Jonah asked, brows furrowed. 

”It made it worse” Cyrus sighed, heart heavy and he’s absorbed in this sudden tiredness, he just wants to leave the subject, not talk, not think about it anymore. He hated how they have such power over him, even when they’re not around. 

”Maybe we can talk to him again? There’s gotta be something the school board can do” Buffy suggested softly. 

At that, TJ scoffed. At first Cyrus didn’t register the implications of it and was thankful for the action effectively taking all eyes in the room off of him, but he froze when he realized that TJ’s tone had been anything but friendly. It occurred to him how little he actually knew about TJ. 

”Excuse me?” Buffy asked, already getting worked up. Cyrus could sense she had been waiting for this. 

”The school board isn’t going to do anything” TJ stated calmly, but his gaze was sharp as he met Buffy’s. Cyrus held his breath. ”Grown ups are all talk” 

”What should one do then?” Buffy took a challenging step towards him. TJ complied. 

”Take action” 

”Take action?” Buffy questioned in disbelief, eyebrow raised. ”What kind of action?” Her voice was grave, because now she was actually worried over the implications of TJ’s words.

There was a beat of silence. The room was so quiet, thick with tension, no one dared to even breathe. TJ glanced at Cyrus, and as they briefly made eye contact Cyrus could see something change in his expression. As if he caught himself. 

TJ shrugged, looking at Buffy with a new light in his eyes. ”Nothing. I’m sure it’ll work out” 

Buffy scoffed. ”That’s your action? Doing nothing?” She rolled her eyes, but there were relief to her expression. ”How productive” 

The hardness grew in TJ’s eyes, and Cyrus panicked. Having them rival, this early, was not something he needed at the moment. 

”Let’s watch the movie, yeah?” He said, sounding more pleading than he’d aimed for. This, what was happening at that very moment, was the last thing he needed. 

Buffy and TJ seemed to both, separately, realize this as well, as they both reacted to the tone of his voice. TJ shoot him a small, apologetic smile. It was the first sign Cyrus had gotten that night from the TJ he had gotten to know, and it calmed him to know that he hadn’t completely misjudged him. 

Buffy stared at TJ for a little longer and no one in the room dared to say anything until she did. She wasn’t done, but knew she had to be. 

”Yeah” she said finally, dragging her eyes off of TJ. She glanced around the room. ”We need popcorn” 

”I’ll fix it” Cyrus quickly offered. He made eyes with TJ. TJ gave him a look he could only describe as begging. ”Wanna help me?” 

Cyrus could feel everyone else in the room look at him, but his eyes were fixed on TJ. He figured both TJ and Buffy needed a break from each other in order to make this night as pleasant as possible, but he could also sense that TJ was getting overwhelmed around all these new people. Maybe he was projecting. Either way, he knew he had made the right choice when the response he got was a hurried nod. 

They left the living room, both fully aware that there would be conversations about them the minute they stepped out. It didn’t feel relevant at the moment. His friends meant no harm and he had bigger things to focus on. 

Before they were out of hearing distance, Cyrus could hear Marty’s hushed voice ask ”Did a cyclist really fight two baboons in the forest?” followed by a grunt, presumably from Buffy. He smiled to himself. 

They walked to the kitchen in silence. Cyrus could tell TJ needed a moment to collect himself. Or let himself loose. Either way, Cyrus didn’t want to disturb. Instead he kept his face pointed forward, fully aware of TJ beside him, his movements, his presence, how very there he was. 

He wanted to reach out. 

They entered the kitchen. Well, Cyrus did. TJ stopped at the doorway, peering in. 

Cyrus didn’t know what was the matter at first but then he followed TJ’s glaring gaze to the heaps of garlic hanging by the windows. 

”Is it bothering you?” He asked cautiously. It wouldn’t be the first time TJ reacted hostile when feeling vulnerable, so he was careful not to sound too worried. 

”It’s fine” TJ said through gritted teeth, signaling that it was very much not fine. With determination set on his face, he took a step inside the kitchen, and then another one and so on, until he was by where Cyrus was standing by the cupboards. The way he was clearly fighting to pretend it was nothing told Cyrus that it was best to leave it.

Cyrus found the popcorn box immediately; it was in his favorite place in Buffy’s house, also known as the one cupboard they kept all the snacks. He picked the box up and fished one bag out, handing it to TJ. 

”Could you microwave these?” He asked. ”I’m gonna find a bowl”

TJ looked at the tinfoil bag in Cyrus’ hand with suspicion, before nodding and taking the bag from him, carefully grabbing it by the edge. ”Sure” he said. ”I can do that”

He was acting a little weird, but so far Cyrus didn’t have a reason to think it was because of malice so he turned around and walked over to the cupboards by the sink, leaving TJ to it. Maybe he was just nervous. 

Cyrus could hear the microwave start behind him and smiled to himself. He opened a cupboard to look for a size appropriate bowl, and quickly spotted one on the top shelf. Damning Buffy for her tall family, he managed to get a hold of the bottom corner and slowly eased it out. Getting the bowl out far enough to let gravity do it’s thing, Cyrus slowly lowered the bowl, balancing it fairly well. It was heavier than he estimated at first but it was going well.

Up until TJ said, ”Uhm… is it supposed to do that?” 

”What?” Cyrus asked, eyes still fixed on the bowl.

Getting no answer he made sure the bowl was steady before glancing over to where TJ was standing pointing his thumb to the microwave. 

”Do wha- No! No, it’s not!” Mortified, Cyrus lost his control over the bowl, dropping it on the sink, silently cursing as it slammed against the hard surface. It looked fine, but either way it wasn’t his main focus at the moment.

Sparks were flying. The bag of popcorn, still peacefully resting inside its tinfoil cover, was protected from the actual lightning bouncing off of the reflective surface. Cyrus had never actually seen a microwave do anything like that, but had heard stories of fire and flames, and those stories where all rushing through his head as he acted as fast as he could. TJ stood handfallen, seemingly lost in what Cyrus saw as an emergency. 

Cyrus, a man of logic and rational thinking, did the first thing he could think of and dove down on the floor, scrambling to unplug the microwave. It may not have been gracious, but it got the job done.

There was a moment after the microwave went out where it felt as if time had stopped. Cyrus, still at the floor frozen, looked up at TJ who was staring at him wide wide eyes. It stayed like that for what could’ve been a second or a minute, there was no way to tell, before they both broke out laughing.

***

It had been so long, TJ had forgotten the sound of his own laugh. Now it flowed out of him like an unstoppable force. His stomach was hurting, eyes watering and by the looks of it, Cyrus had the same reaction.

It felt incredible. The last time TJ remembered laughing like that was when Reed tried feeding on an animal for the first time and kept getting kicked in the face by a chihuahua. At that moment he had almost thrown up because how hard he was laughing, but that was years ago, and since then all TJ could remember was a sullen, grey fog of a low profile life. 

Letting himself laugh like this again was like lighting a candle in a dark room. 

And maybe Cyrus held the matches.

Cyrus wiped a tear from the corner of his eye and took a deep breath. His eyes were shining. TJ was burning.

”Do you not know the number one rule when using a microwave?” He said, voice bubbly and unstable from holding back more laughter. With some effort, he got himself off the ground. TJ almost offered to help him up before realizing that the consequences sticking his bare hand out for Cyrus would be disastrous. 

”Which is…?” he asked instead. He was grinning, his body was buzzing and his head felt light. 

”Nothing in the microwave!” Cyrus exclaimed, looking at him like he was hilariously out of his mind. 

”Oh” TJ said. There was a beat of silence before they lost it again. Wheezing laughter, slapping knees, catching breaths. It was inevitable. Until,

”Cyrus how’s it go-” Buffy abruptly stopped speaking once she reached the doorway, seeing the scene in front of her. She blinked multiple times as if to see if the was imagining things. For some reason, that just made everything more fun. 

For a moment TJ completely forgot about the restrictions he had put up for himself, the reservedness he had promised himself to sport whilst being inside the house, the vary he was supposed to feel against Buffy, for his own protection. He just threw it all away because when Cyrus was laughing, when he was laughing with Cyrus, concentrating on anything else was harder than throwing himself into a garlic factory. Garlic plantation? A place with a lot of garlic. Sort of like the house he currently found himself in. 

”What is going on in here?” Buffy said with a bewildered look on her face. TJ could understand. What she was seeing was a whole other person, someone TJ himself didn’t even know. At the same time, a smile fighting to break out on Buffy’s face could be seen from miles away.

”Nothing” Cyrus said between fits of laughter. TJ keeps his eyes on Cyrus, grinning widely. He avoided looking at Buffy knowing her face, nevertheless amused, would bring him back to a harsh reality and he wanted to stay where he was for just a moment longer. Floating, light. ”A microwave malfunction” Cyrus added as a halfhearted explanation.

”Is something wrong with the microwave?” Buffy said, sounding slightly concerned.

”It’s fine” Cyrus shrugged. He went over to it and opened the door. ”See?” 

”Is that… tinfoil?”

”Nooo” Cyrus said, overly reassuring and quite obviously lying. He shut the microwave door again, smiling innocently. ”Absolutely not” 

Buffy didn’t believe it for a second. ”Whatever. Just hurry up, we want to see the movie” 

”We’ll be right there!” Cyrus called after her as she left. He turned back to TJ, smiling. TJ felt whatever tenseness he had felt with Buffy in the room melt away with that smile. His instincts told him to Stay Alert! but for once, TJ couldn’t bring himself to listen. It was easier to just melt away.

Cyrus proceeded to explain in great detail the do’s and don’t’s of microwaving. TJ would never use any of the information he was provided seeing as he usually didn’t eat microwaveable things, but listened to every word Cyrus spoke, soaking it up. All of a sudden, the rules of microwaving became extremely interesting. 

After all, warm blood tasted better than refrigerator-cold blood. Maybe he’d try it some time. 

TJ excused his ignorance towards microwaving by blaming his diet. He had, during the years of finding excuses to why he wasn’t eating human food, found that if you told people you had a special diet in a specific voice, people wouldn’t dare to ask more about it. 

He silently wondered how many times he’d be able to use that excuse without casting suspicion on himself. Around Cyrus he felt calmer, because there was simply no way Cyrus had it in him to pose a threat to the existence of a vampire. He’d heard the expression ”would never hurt a fly” and when it came to Cyrus he actually believed it. 

And TJ, he was the opposite of that. 

He told himself he wouldn’t take it further. Hanging with Cyrus from time to time, that was harmless, right? So what if he ate the flies Cyrus wouldn’t hurt for breakfast? 

As he was lost in thought, Cyrus opened the microwave and pulled out the tinfoil covered package. ”It is weird they cover these in metal, seeing as you can’t put it in the microwave” he said, staring at the package in thought. 

TJ smiled weakly. ”Maybe they didn’t expect people to be so dumb” he said with the ghost of a smile. 

”Still, I bet loads of people make the same mistake without even thinking about it” Cyrus said. He uncovered the tinfoil and checked the paper bag underneath. ”We can probably still use these, right? Can you check it the bowl is alright?” 

TJ nodded and went over the bowl resting on the sink to examine it. He looked over to Cyrus as he was putting the bag in the microwave again, closing the door, pressing some buttons, and the microwave started going. In awe TJ mindlessly reached out after the bowl, still fixed on Cyrus. He was jealous in a sense, seeing how effortlessly human Cyrus was. 

TJ was nothing human, as he was bitterly reminded of as he looked over to the bowl he had grabbed and found himself holding a bowl filled with silver chains. 

In shock and terror TJ dropped the bowl and backed up until he hit the kitchen table. It took all his willpower not to hiss at the object. He could practically feel the silver burning his skin, even though he hadn’t touched it. 

”What happened?” Cyrus exclaimed. He rushed over and at first TJ was afraid he was going to touch him, but Cyrus stopped when he was close but not too close, looking at him in worry. ”Are you okay?”

”Yeah” TJ chuckled forcefully. ”I was just surprised” he gestured to the bowl. 

Confused, Cyrus followed his eyes and when he spotted the silver he laughed fondly. ”Oh, don’t mind those, they’re Buffy’s secret stash I think” 

”Mhm” TJ said, jaws clenching. The cold reality of the situation came over him like a wave of discomfort. He minded the chains a lot. 

”I shouldn’t say more than that” Cyrus said with serious look in his face. He bit his lip, bursting to say more. TJ would’ve found it endearing if he hadn’t been overcome by bitterness. He didn’t really want him to say more, it stood perfectly clear to TJ either way.

He shrugged half-heartedly. His mind, for possibly the first time that night, wasn’t focused on Cyrus, but on the growing urgency to get out of there. 

Cyrus, however, took his apathy as hurt from being left out, and exclaimed; ”It’s… jewelry! They keep it there to keep it safe from thieves.”

TJ looked from the robust chains in the bowl to Cyrus and back to the chains again. Buffy’s family would’ve had to be filled with wannabe rappers for that to be believable, but it wasn’t. It was filled with vampire hunters, something the stood abundantly clear now, if it hadn’t before. No denying, no coincidences, nothing. And TJ should be as far away from the house as possible. 

And probably as far away from Cyrus as possible too. 

”I like it” TJ tried. Anything to lighten up the situation. ”Very fashionable” 

”That’s true” Cyrus smiled weakly. TJ could tell he knew his lie was obvious. And that he felt bad. 

TJ had to get out of there, but he couldn’t let Cyrus believe it was something he had done. The last time he had left abruptly, he had felt like the worst person in the world. This time there was even more TJ would be walking away from. He just couldn’t leave Cyrus thinking he had messed it up. 

So he pulled a cheap, but effective trick. He pulled out his phone.

”Oh shoot” he said, looking at the empty home screen with wide eyes. ”I totally forgot my grandparents are coming over today! My mom is wondering where I am…” 

It was a lie, but TJ, during his years as an impostor human, had grown very good at lying. Well, good enough to still be alive. Well, ”alive”. 

”Oh!” Cyrus looked shocked. ”Do you have to leave, or…”

TJ pretended to think about it. ”I probably should…” he said. ”My grandma will be disappointed if I don’t show up” 

He wondered what it was like to have someone disappointed at your absence, and in the ”because I miss you” way. He was used to disappointment, but not that. He wasn’t used to being missed. 

”Yeah, of course” Cyrus said. Sadness struck his eyes, ut he smiled nevertheless. ”But it was nice that you could come either way, even for just a bit”

”Yeah” TJ breathed out. He felt bad. And he was tempted to stay, just to see Cyrus smile that way again. But he couldn’t.

”And I’m sorry I was late, I hope it wasn’t too awkward before I got here” Cyrus chuckled apologetically. 

”It was fine” TJ said, reassuring him. When he thought about it now, he didn’t feel as if he was lying. ”I was late too”

Cyrus gave him a grateful smile, and suddenly TJ found leaving the house, leaving the kitchen, leaving Cyrus, to be very hard. But he had no choice. 

”Could you say bye to the others for me? I really need to go” TJ said, doing anything to not have to go back into the living room. He was well aware it was the easy way out, the cheap way out, but couldn’t bring himself to care. 

”Of course” Cyrus said and followed him to the hallway. 

TJ had his shoes and jacket on within a minute and stopped, giving Cyrus a small smile. ”Thanks for inviting me” 

”Thank you for coming” Cyrus said. 

”See you” TJ said and stayed for just a moment longer, before turning around and leaving. He could feel Cyrus’ gaze on his back.

It was dark out, just like he wanted it.

”Bye!” He heard Cyrus call after him. He walked a couple of steps, fullt intent on walking away from there, to never revisit that house again, but something stopped him. As if in control of itself, his body stopped walking and he turned around. 

Cyrus was halfway closing the door, but stopped as he saw TJ turn around, he opened it up again. He looked lost. As if he was already losing himself in thought and TJ brought him back out.

TJ took a couple hesitant steps towards him.

”I want to hear the fact” he said after a moment of silence. He felt bold, shooting the words out in the air between them. They felt heavy.

”What fact?” Cyrus asked. 

”You were gonna tell a fun fact about baboons” TJ said. He took another step, gravel crunching under his shoe, shouting into the silence. Exposing his quiet attempt to get closer. ”I want to hear it” 

”Oh” Cyrus face lit up. ”That fact!” He composed himself, as if he was going to announce something important. He stepped outside and closed the door a little behind him. ”Did you know that baboons have the same amount of teeth and the same dental structure as humans?” 

”No” TJ said with a smile on his face. ”I did not know that” 

”It’s true” Cyrus nodded enthusiastically. ”According to some scientists, humans and baboons have a 94 percent genetic similarity” 

”Those 6 percent that differs are truly doing wonders” TJ said, grinning.

”Monkeys are a lot smarter than people give them credit for” Cyrus argued. His face was gone, lost in fact about baboons.

”So are some humans” TJ said, voice coming out all soft, losing the hard edge it usually carried. He barely recognized it, but he had been using that voice more often as of lately. 

Cyrus smiled through the dark. TJ could see it clearly because of his enhanced night vision. It usually came in handy when hunting at night. It also came in handy when you wanted to see someone’s face in the darkness. 

He figured vampires probably had a lower percentage genetic similarity. He wondered if there was such a thing as vampire baboons. He had never met a vampire animal before. Maybe the rule in the animal kingdom was ”the dead stay dead”.

The circle of life. The way it was supposed to be. Hakuna fudging matata.

”I really should get going” he excused himself, remembering he had blamed hurry. ”See you around? I’d love to hear more about baboons”

The question came out so blatant, so abstract, there was no denying the meaning behind it. TJ didn’t really want to hear more about baboons. But he would listen to a million baboon facts if Cyrus was the one telling them.

”Yeah” Cyrus nodded, soft smile on his face. ”I have a lot more where that came from. See you around” 

TJ turned around and started walking, but it wasn’t until he heard the door close behind him he felt as if he could breathe again. His legs felt oddly wobbly. He smiled to himself.

He had made it out, and Cyrus hadn’t seemed too hurt by him leaving. He was flowing with relief. 

He didn’t know if Cyrus had bought the lie, but he got out so it wasn’t relevant. And now he was going home, to the place without silver on the walls or the stench of garlic everywhere. To the place without people. 

But first, he thought as he stared out in the dark woods by the house, first, there was something else he had to do.

***

Cyrus heart was beating rapidly. 

He closed the door and leaned his head on it, closing his eyes momentarily. 

He knew TJ had been lying. But it didn’t feel relevant. Because TJ had wanted to know the fact about baboons. 

The problem, outside of the whole TJ-feeling-the-need-to-lie-to-get-out-of-there problem, was that Cyrus wasn’t supposed to know. The only reason he knew it was a lie was because of the personal information Andi accidentally had let slip out - the information she felt bad for telling and he felt bad for knowing. 

He couldn’t give his friends the same reason TJ had given him for leaving, when explaining why he was gone. Not that they wouldn’t be respectful, of course they would, but with the extended knowledge Andi had given them about his living situation - having a social worker and living in the apartment buildings, presumably alone - Cyrus felt as if it would be even more an invasion of privacy to tell them. It was enough that he knew despite not being supposed to. 

That, and the fact that he had seen the reflection of TJ’s phone screen in the window behind him and it had been empty. 

Cyrus could pretend all he wanted, but he couldn’t ignore the growing feeling he had that it had been something he said. But at the same time, the way TJ had stopped and stayed, just for a baboon fact… It negated all arguments his brain made as to why TJ had wanted to leave. 

Cyrus doubted TJ actually cared that much about baboons. 

He opened his eyes just as Buffy entered the hallway, looking at him with that all-knowing smirk.

”What are you smiling about?” She asked, smiling as if she already knew. She looked around the room as if TJ had hidden somewhere. ”Where’s TJ?”

”He had to go” Cyrus said simply, ignoring her first question completely, trying to sound as casual as possible. 

”He had to go?”

”Yeah, he had some kind of meeting he’d forgotten about. It was urgent” Cyrus bent the rules on what counted as truth a little and went with the most vague but still legit reason he could come up with. ”He was sorry though”

Buffy was quiet for a moment, pursing her lips. After a while she said, ”Too bad. I really couldn’t get a read on that guy”

”What do you mean?” Cyrus asked, both curious and worried.

”Usually you can get some kind of reading from people, a sense of their person so to speak, but he was just… weird” Buffy said thoughtfully. 

Cyrus laughed silently. ”Buffy, we’re all weird. We found your silver chains by the way” he said, nodding to the kitchen.

Buffy smiled sheepishly. ”He didn’t touch them and almost burn his hand off?” She joked, but there was seriousness behind her words. Buffy was suspicious of everyone, even in the beginning of their relationship she had made Cyrus hold various things made of silver to prove he wasn’t a vampire. She also once sprayed him in the face with garlic spray. It hadn’t been great. 

Cyrus chuckled fondly. ”No. No, he did not. He didn’t know how to use a microwave either, it was kind of endearing”

Buffy gave him a look. He felt his cheeks burn. 

”Oh shut up” 

”I didn’t say anything” she laughed. 

Cyrus rolled his eyes, but his cheeks hurt from smiling. Deflect, deflect, deflect. ”Did you decide on a movie?” 

Buffy sighed. ”No. I don’t know how we’re going to either. There’s not a single person in there with the same opinion”

”I think you’d find it hard to find a group of likeminded people that also get along like we do” Cyrus pointed out.

”True” Buffy leaned against the wall, arms crossed. Her expression was thoughtful. ”But it’d be nice if everyone could agree on something, just once”

”You’re asking for way too much” Cyrus laughed. 

”I know” Buffy said. She chuckled. ”Maybe I’ll just put on Twilight again”

”Please, anything but” Cyrus pleaded. It wouldn’t be the first time they watched Twilight. Buffy had a habit of making them watch vampire related movies. A favorite was Twilight, mostly because Buffy liked pointing out everything that the movie got incorrect. Sometimes Cyrus would point out that it was just two different versions of the same lore, but he always earned a look from Buffy that he didn’t enjoying being in the receiving end of. 

Buffy furrowed her eyebrows, sniffing the air. ”Do you smell burning?” She asked.

”Smell wha- Oh yeah. Oh no!” Cyrus widened his eyes in horror, realizing that the smell came from the popcorn. He bolted into the kitchen just as the microwave filled with grey smoke. Panicking, once again his instinct was to dive down on the ground and again unplug the microwave, but Buffy, proclaimed quick-thinker, acted before him by simply opening the microwave door, effectively shutting the mircowave off.

Out poured smoke, threatening to trigger the fire alarm. Buffy grabbed a kitchen cloth nearby and started waving it to get rid of the smoke, while Cyrus made his way over to the kitchen window and opened it. 

The room was filled with the sweet smell of burnt popcorn, but soon enough the smoke was gone. Cyrus closed the window again.

Buffy and Cyrus just stared at the microwave for a moment, and then at each other, before Buffy broke the silence. 

”Are you sure TJ’s the one not knowing how to use a microwave?” She asked with an amused smile grazing her lips. 

”I… got distracted” Cyrus admitted. Baboon facts before popcorn, any day. 

”Mhm, you did, huh?” Buffy said, wiggling her eyebrows. 

Cyrus let out a laugh. ”You distracted me” 

Buffy swept her hand through her hair. ”I know, I can be pretty distracting” 

”And extremely humble” Cyrus said. 

”What can I say? I’m just simply good at everything” she said, jokingly cocky. 

”Marty sure seems to think so” Cyrus commented casually. He did like to take every opportunity he could to tease Buffy over her oh so obvious crush (”It’s not a crush!”) on Marty, but he also appreciated the chance to change the subject, steering it away from TJ. 

Buffy looked mortified. ”Oh god no, he doesn’t think like that. He spends all his time trying to beat me at everything”

”He’s a seventeen year old boy, he definitely thinks like that” Cyrus said teasingly. Buffy scoffed.

”Gross” Buffy said. She added, deep in thought. ”He doesn’t like me like that. Why would he?”

”Buffy, you’re awesome, why wouldn’t he?” Cyrus said, not seeing how there was any doubt. 

”Of course I am, I am the best. I’m better than he is” Buffy said, an automatic response. 

”At what?” 

”I don’t know… being alive”

”That… doesn’t make sense” 

”Whatever, I’m awesome”

”Yeah… so what’s the problem?”

”Isn’t it kinda… I don’t know… lame?” She cast her eye down, suddenly unsure.

”Lame?” Cyrus asked, feeling himself grow more and more into the therapist role he often took on whenever one of his friends had any problems.

”Like my mom, right?” Buffy said. She looked around the room before fixing her eyes on the newly dropped bowl with the silver inside. ”She’s out in the world, hunting vampires. That’s cool. Badass”

”Yeah…?” Cyrus waited for her to continue, letting her take her time. 

”So what am I doing here? Watching movies, having feelings… all that stuff”

”Having feelings isn’t lame” Cyrus furrowed his eyebrows, looking at Buffy with a serious expression. Buffy looked at him, and cracked up in a smile.

”Come on, don’t get all therapist-y on me now”

Cyrus smiled, but he wasn’t going to let her off that easy. ”Buffy, you’re a teenager!” He exclaimed. ”You’re allowed to live like a teenager! Your mom wasn’t hunting vampires when she was seventeen, was she?” 

”Well… I don’t know. You know she doesn’t tell me about her job” Buffy sighed. ”She just says she’s going on business trips”

”I know. But I’m sure she does it just because of this reason. She wants you to live your life without having to worry” Cyrus said. They had had this conversation before, but not so honest. Mostly Buffy was boosting about her mother’s job and how she’d be just like her one day.

”I guess…”

”Plus! Your mom’s married, right? See, feelings and work aren’t mutually exclusive. You can have both”

Buffy thought about it for a moment. ”You know, sometimes you take after your parents too much” she said, rather fondly.

”Well, what’s the point of four shrink parents if you can’t use it on your friends?” 

Buffy laughed, shaking her head. Cyrus grinned, feeling a sense of pride at his words, knowing they helped ease Buffy’s mind.

He glanced at the bowl with the chains in it, feeling suddenly heavy. He glanced at Buffy, and asked, 

”Have you ever met one?”

”…what?” Buffy asked. 

”A vampire?” 

Buffy was quiet for a moment. ”No” she said then, quietly, as if she didn’t want to admit it.

”That you know of at least” Cyrus joked. 

”Psh, as if I wouldn’t know” Buffy said confidently, but her smile wavered. ”I’d know. I’m sure I’d know” she continued, convincing someone unknown. Cyrus didn’t think he was the one she was trying to convince.

”Yeah” Cyrus fed into it. ”You’d know”

”You’d notice someone without a body temperature” Buffy said, brows furrowed as she was deep in thought. ”Or if they had a really strong reaction to garlic. Or an aversion to silver. And the sun, don’t forget about the sun. You’d notice if someone was doing their best to avoid the sun” 

Cyrus nodded agreeingly. There was something familiar in her words, and Cyrus didn’t dare to pinpoint it. 

”I’ve also read that vampire’s can’t cross water” Buffy said. ”Or appear on photographs, but that one seems a little far fetched” 

”Basically, to find a vampire all you have to do is look through the yearbook and search for an empty photo” Cyrus joked. Buffy laughed whole-heatedly. 

”That would make things easier” she said, still laughing.

Cyrus thought about it, not wanting the realisation to hit him. Deep down he knew exactly who that description applied to. ”you’d notice” Buffy had said and Cyrus had noticed. 

”How do you know they’re real, if you haven’t met them?” Cyrus asked. He didn’t mean to come across as offensive, like an attack, of course not, but Buffy got a sharp edge to her tone as she answered. 

”I’ve never met a giraffe either, but I’m pretty sure they’re real” 

”Yeah. Of course” Cyrus assured her. He knew he shouldn’t have asked, but he had to know. 

Buffy cast a glance at the bag of burnt popcorn and chuckled. ”Maybe we should just give up on the popcorn” she said.

”I don’t think it’s meant to be” Cyrus concluded. Buffy nodded in agreement and threw an arm around Cyrus’ shoulders.   
”Come on” she said. ”Let’s see if we can get the others to agree on a movie” 

”I know what we can watch!” Cyrus sparked up. ”There’s this great documenta-”

”No” 

”It’s about reptilians and-”

”No”

”…I’m never going to get to choose movie, am I?”

”Nope”

They ended up watching Twilight. But Cyrus wasn’t paying attention.

He had other things to think about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OH God, yes, I know, this is embarrassingly late. Like, I don’t know if anyone actually noticed lmao, but I did say last time that I’d try to update once a week? And Then proceeded to not update for two months? Like I know no one here knows me personally, but I gotta say it’s incredibly on brand for me. I'm sorry for doing what I always do lol. You should've seen me in school. Actually, you shouldn't. It was sad. I'm a procrastinator deluxe. Can't deny it or hide it. It's in my blood. But for real though, there has been a lot going on these past months. Like more than usually. AND this chapter was harder to write than the others. I think it's because it required an understanding of what a high school movie night would usually look like, and I never went to one. I was socially terrified. Like thing is, normally I feel like people would go to a party, but personally I have even less experience of a high school party, and it didn't fit the narrative. (look at me pretending there's a narrative. foolish mortal) (look at me pretending there ISN'T a narrative. foolish mortal. all stories have narratives, don't they? What the heck is a narrative?) I have no self control so this ended up almost 10k words. That's a lot of words. Like I can't believe I made it this far and we're only on chapter 3. This is a personal challenge for me guys. I usually give up on chapter 2. Mostly because I get a completely different idea and start over somewhere else. But not this time, guys. Not this time. ANYWAYS. Honestly, a lot of TJ in this chapter is just me irl. I've also noticed that I put slow burn in the tags. I don't think this is a slow burn really. Then again, what is slow burn? When does the burning stop? Is it when they get together? When someone falls in love? Like where is it burning? SO far I wouldn't say anything's slow really. Tagging in general is hard af, I should probably redo them some time. There's a certain overview you have to have to tag something properly, and I have never in my entire life had an overview over anything so i don't know. What even is an overview? Why so many questions? Contrary to popular belief (lmao where?) the author of this story knows very little. ANYWAYS. I have to go. Thank you for reading! I'm mostly doing this for myself, but the fact that people are actually reading and actually liking what I write is such a boost. It feels kinda surreal. So yeah. Thank you. Until next time <3


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ”You’re not what I’d thought you’d be” Cyrus said after a moment, voice calm and face deep in thought. There was lightness to his expression, which did a great deal to release some of the tension TJ held inside him in anticipation for a reaction.
> 
> ”What?” TJ asked, confusion winning over fear. ”What does that mean?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> About three things, I was absolutely positive;
> 
> 1\. HI! Uhm I'm weirdly excited, I like posting chapter lol, so here you go! It's here! Iiiiiiih! How exciting! Ehm *cough* I mean... here you go I guess... I'm cool, ok? OK?
> 
> 2\. Can't stress this enough, thank you for reading! Thing is, this is the first work I've ever had anyone outside my family/friends/teacher read, and hearing people that aren't actually obligated to say they like it say they like it is absolutely amazing, so thank you so much for reading, commenting and giving kudos. I work really hard and it means a lot!
> 
> 3\. I started this twilight parody thing where every beginning note has three points just like that one part in twilight so I feel obligated to write something here as well. I don't really have more to say. But, hey, Enjoy! 
> 
> On to Chapter 4!:

The following Monday TJ woke up feeling excited to go to school.

It scared the crap out of him. 

His plan, the one of a passive quiet school year and then freedom of sorts, was derailing fast, furiously. So fast, so furious you’d be able to make seven movies about it. On Friday he had made it out of the house of a vampire hunter alive, and then he spent the entire weekend wishing he had stayed a little longer. 

Before, he’d be alone but since that was all he knew it was nothing that bothered him. Suddenly he was introduced to this new world of people, like him but nothing like him at the same time, as this thing he could have if things were different. A world of caring and warmth and genuine appreciation. 

TJ both wished he could be a part of it and didn’t know about it. Ignorance is bliss, as they say. 

So when he had gotten home that night, after he had left the house and after he had taken care of…other business, he sat in his empty apartment and for the first time he felt truly lonely. Like something was missing. Friends wasn’t as much a distant concept anymore, but a real thing that he was actively missing out on, and for the first time he truly felt the absence of it.

He thought about Reed and Lester for the first time in forever. He let himself miss Reed and Lester for the first time in forever. 

He missed having someone who understood him. Who he didn’t have to hide from. 

He could make friends now, but it would never be the same. Actually, he wasn’t sure he could make friends. Having shielded himself from getting close to someone for so long, TJ didn’t know how to do it. He couldn’t get milk shakes and baby taters after school with someone. Casually hit them up for some smalltalk in the hall. He wasn’t sure he wanted to but either way, knowing that it wasn’t really an option either way bugged him. 

He got down from where he was hanging, made his way to the kitchen and got through almost an entire milk cartoon of blood before he could will himself to stop. Bitterly he wiped his mouth, putting the almost empty cartoon back into the refrigerator. 

He wasn’t going to lie. He had been excited solely because of the possibility of seeing Cyrus in school again. But the more he emerged from the half-awake state of sleepy disorientation, the more he realized that there were a lot more to school than Cyrus. For example a whole buffet of people he now was acquainted with, meaning he was meant to socialize with them if they happened to meet. 

Being friends with Cyrus included a bunch of people that TJ wasn’t ready to commit to. 

He washed his face, fixed his hair and dressed in his usual manner; the black hoodie and long jeans. Having no body heat, TJ’s ability to estimate the temperature outside was severely lacking, and he usually had to study the people on the street to decide which clothes where weather appropriate. He knew hoodie and jeans were on the edge during the ever so sunny weather, but because of the sun he had no option. So far no one had seemed overly suspicious of his fashion choices. 

He took one last look at his stale gray walls, the dingy beige wall-to-wall carpet, the blinds closely drawn, lifeless furniture and ceiling fan he hadn’t been using but was hanging there nevertheless… when he had gotten home Friday night it was as if he looked at his apartment with new eyes. Suddenly the blandness of it all wasn’t a comfort but a sad reminder of how the very essence of TJ was detachment. How was he supposed to feel at home anywhere if he never had anything to connect with?

He shook his head, letting the thought fall out as he turned around. No point in dwelling in something unchangeable. He closed the door behind him, after putting on his sunglasses and stepping out, and started his way to school, with a nauseating turmoil of feelings brewing in his chest. 

***

When Cyrus stepped in to school Monday morning it was like stepping into a shower before realizing it’s ice cold.

No matter how hard he tried to repress the memory of Friday’s event, it was still fresh in his mind, the fear amplifying as he entered Jefferson High. At once he felt alone, defenseless. He hated the fact that he wished so badly to have someone with him, despite scoffing when his friends had said the same thing. He didn’t want bodyguards, but he felt as if he needed them. 

He didn’t know what to expect. It had never been very bad before, the fear itself was the worst that ever happened. But now he could see the cold in the eyes of the bullies as they begrudgingly left him alone, stared down by a woman on a bike, every time he closed his eyes. The memory had etched itself into the inside of his eyelids, never leaving him alone. 

He’d expect them to have some built up anger, something they’d be dying to take out on him. The most physical it had ever gotten had been hard pushes, which were bad enough. Cyrus didn’t really want to know what they were like when angry. 

When he got to his locker the hallway was empty except for,

”Hey, Leo”

a fellow classmate, standing by their lockers. Leo looked up and smiled when he heard his name being called. 

”Cyrus! Hey” he said. He pushed his bag inside the locker. ”How was your weekend?” 

”Good” Cyrus said, because it mostly was. ”Did some chillin. Hung out with some friends. You?” He also watched more than one documentary about baboons, but he didn’t tell Leo that. He wouldn’t tell anyone that. 

”Yeah, it was good. Took out the boat and the funniest thing happened, you gotta hear this”

Leo proceeded to tell Cyrus about the funniest thing that happened, but his voice quickly faded to background noise as two people entered the opposite end of the hall, making Cyrus freeze inside. 

He knew he would have to face them again, of course he would, but he hadn’t expected it to be so soon. Or more, he had hoped, prayed that it wouldn’t be so soon. But luck was never on his side, was it? 

He was very aware of Leo’s presence. He could hear him talk somewhere in the distance, but could not for the life of him make out any real sentences. They wouldn’t do anything with Leo around, would they? Then again, the bullies were what felt like twice his size, and Leo, to all his credit, wasn’t that much of a threat. 

He didn’t know what to expect so he expected the worst. For their faces to fill with rage, for them to walk with determined steps over, demanding justice for the things they didn’t get to do Friday afternoon. Whatever that was, it was coming.

One of them saw him first. His face didn’t fill with rage or determination or even a passive aggressive neutrality that would be equally scary if done right. Instead his face paled, his eyes widened. If Cyrus didn’t know better he’d say his face was displaying fear. 

Actually, he didn’t know better. The bully looked scared.

What?

What, what, what?

The bully tapped on the other one’s shoulder, nodding his head towards where Cyrus was standing. The other bully visibly gulped, stopping abruptly in his step.

Cyrus blinked. In confusion but also amazement. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. 

The bullies started walking again, towards him, but all confidence, toughness in their ways were gone. Instead a humble, passive walk took them over to where Cyrus and Leo were standing, and without doing as much as look at them, they walked right by. 

They had always been good at making Cyrus feel invisible, but never like this. He felt like his presence was so loud, they were scared to be hurt if they so much as looked at him. Without even glancing at him they exited the hallway, heads low. Cyrus didn’t dare to breathe until they were gone. He was too surprised to feel relieved. 

”which was funny because she doesn’t like water AT ALL. You should’ve seen her face, it was priceless. She was fine of course, I think all dogs can swim like naturally. Like we have to learn, but dogs just know, you know?” Leo shook his head in amusement, presumably picturing dogs swimming. Cyrus didn’t know. He was just zoning back in, only catching snippets of Leo’s story.

”Dogs, amirite?” Leo laughed absentmindedly. 

”Did you do that?” Cyrus asked, heart hammering in his chest, overthrown by confusion and stress, completely disregarding the fact that Leo probably had no idea what he was talking about. 

”Do what?” Leo asked, completely oblivious to what had just happened. 

”Nothing” Cyrus mumbled. It was stupid question anyways, he doubted Leo had anything to do with it. He grabbed his book and closed his locker. ”I have to go. uhm, see you later” 

”Uh, yeah, bye” Leo said, confusion written over his face. You and me both, Cyrus thought as he left the hallway, just to face the second unexpected thing that morning. 

***

TJ didn’t get far into Jefferson High before bumping into one of the aforementioned acquaintances. 

To be fair, he’d rather meet Andi than any of the others. Jonah Beck and him didn’t really have a good track record, he could not figure out that Marty kid, Amber made him uneasy and Buffy… well, he never wanted any one on one time with Buffy. 

In that context, Andi really wasn’t that bad. Still, when he saw her heading his way he contemplated hiding from her for a second, before she spotted him and he lost his chance. Her face cracked up in a somewhat hesitant yet genuine smile, and it felt only natural to return it. Only slightly, but still enough to seemingly catch her off guard. 

”Hi” Andi said once she was close enough to him. He was standing by his locker, unintentionally frozen as if caught. He wondered how he had never noticed her having her locker so close to his as she opened a locker only a couple doors down. At least he assumed it was her locker, she didn’t seem like someone who regularly broke into lockers.

”Hey”

She put her stuff in her locker and TJ couldn’t help but stare at her, feeling way out of his comfort zone with the casualty of the conversation. He had never been good at smalltalk and up until this moment he had never wanted to be either, but as the silence grew louder and louder he cursed himself for not knowing how to keep a conversation going. 

”So…” Andi paused awkwardly. Don’t ask about why I left, TJ thought. Please don’t ask. Andi seemingly ”How are you?”

TJ resisted the urge to sigh in relief. ”Good” he said stiffly, keeping it to one syllable maximum.

”Cool” Andi said. She bit her lip and glanced at two people walking past them, presumably wanting to be one of them instead of stuck where she was. TJ could only assume that’s what she was thinking and he could relate. The people turned a corner, and TJ and Andi were once again alone in a very quiet hallway. 

”How was your weekend?” TJ asked after a moment too long, cringing at how forced it sounded. Still, there was a small swelling of pride in his chest, proud to have broken the silence all by himself.

Andi perked up. ”Good! I did some gardening with Cece- I mean my… uhm well, Cece, you’ve met her” Andi’s face was hit by realization. ”Or you haven’t! I don’t know! It’s not a big town so I could only assume you’ve met her. Maybe you’ve met her, maybe you haven’t, you wouldn’t know, would you? Oh well..” She trailed off, flustered. 

TJ blinked. He didn't recall meeting any "Cece" but he was also bad with names.

”Anyways…” Andi said. She clicked her tongue. ”It was nice that you came by on Friday” 

”Yeah, I… I’m sorry I had to leave I-”

”It’s okay!” Andi reassured quickly. ”Just sad that we didn’t get to know you more. I know Amber really liked you” 

”She did?” TJ asked with genuine surprise. 

Andi furrowed her brows. ”Yeah… why wouldn’t she?”

”We just… didn’t talk that much I guess” TJ said lamely. He had been so wrapped up in everything at the movie night that he had forgotten about the others perception of him. Hearing that someone actually liked him, or at least claimed to do so, was surprising. He didn’t want to tell Andi that though. 

”Well… next time?” Andi said and smiled hopefully. TJ hadn’t counted on ever being invited to anything with them again after he bailed and somewhere in his mind that had been kind of reassuring, but Andi’s smile was bright. 

”Yeah. Next time” he said, nodding. He wasn’t sure that was the end of the conversation and cleared his throat awkwardly. Apparently it wasn’t.

”So… how do you like Jefferson so far?” Andi asked after a moment of silence, whilst digging through her locker. 

TJ smiled. ”Who, the president?”

Andi let out a surprised laugh. ”Yes, of course the president. A little outdated, but still. No, I meant the school” 

”I mean…” TJ shrugged. ”It’s school”

”School doesn’t have to equal bad” Andi said. TJ looked at her questioningly. 

”In my experience, it usually does” he said, hearing the sharp edge in his own voice. He was getting defensive again. He willed a smile to his face. ”But hey, it could be worse” 

Andi nodded absentmindedly, her eyes fixated on something behind TJ, face breaking up in a smile. 

”Hey Cyrus!”

TJ whipped around. 

His eyes widened. Cyrus was staring at them in confusion, wonder, mouth slightly gaping. TJ felt a smile break out on his face.

”Hey” Cyrus said, speaking to Andi but eyes fixated on TJ. He didn’t share the excitement, but seemed distracted by something. 

”Hi” TJ said. 

”Are you okay?” Andi asked in concern. ”You look kinda frightened” 

”I just had a weird experience…” Cyrus said, trailing off, searching for the words to describe it. 

TJ understood at once what he was talking about and wished he could not be there as this conversation was about to go down. He had no idea how to hold himself. How does one usually look casual? How does one act casual?!

Andi stepped forward from behind TJ, coming up beside him. ”What happened?”

Cyrus glanced at TJ, and then looked back at Andi, and took a deep breath. 

”After what happened on Friday, you know” he paused to see if they knew what he was talking about. Andi nodded. TJ didn’t move a muscle, terrified to give anything else. No reaction was better than a suspicious one, right? He didn’t know what to do with his body. What does one usually do with their arms? 

Seeing as he got no reaction, Cyrus continued, ”Well, I kinda thought that if I met them again they’d be worse than last time… but I just met them and they.. they seemed scared of me”

”What?” Andi said in disbelief. ”What do you mean, scared?” 

”They saw me and like… freaked out” Cyrus said. ”I know it sounds weird, but they wouldn’t even look at me when they walked past”

Andi blinked, trying to wrap her head around what she was hearing. TJ kept his face emotionless.

”That’s so weird” Andi said. ”And you have no idea what happened?” 

”No!” Cyrus exclaimed, growing more and more confused for every second. ”Unless they’re very afraid of Leo, I have no idea?” 

”That seems unlikely” Andi said, smiling a little. TJ looked between the two of them in confusion.

”Who’s Leo?” He asked, speaking for the first time since they said hello. Both Cyrus and Andi looked at him when hearing him speak.

”Leo from the lockers” Cyrus explained without explaining. 

TJ frowned. ”I thought that was Marty” 

Cyrus laughed. ”No. He actually used to be Marty from the Party. That’s where Buffy met him” 

”Oh” TJ said. ”So there’s Marty from the party and Leo the locker boy. Are all your friends named after locations?” He teased.

”Not all of them” Cyrus said, and scoffed, still smiling. ”Why? Do you want to be ’TJ from the principal’s office’?”

”I’m good” TJ said but smiled nevertheless. He couldn't help but notice how Cyrus counted him as a friend.

Cyrus smiled back and held eye contact until Andi reminded the two of them of her existence by addressing Cyrus directly,

”Hey, did you see that Buffy wants to talk to us?” She said, waving her phone a little. 

Cyrus redirected his attention. ”No?” He pulled up his phone and opened it, reading something, presumably a text. He frowned. ”Do you know why?”

”No, but she says it’s important” Andi said. ”The Spoon after school?” 

”Sure” Cyrus shrugged. He glanced at TJ, looking guilty for not inviting him as well, but TJ was thankful he didn’t. Hanging out with Cyrus was one thing, hanging out with Cyrus and Buffy and Andi was completely different. Almost not worth it. Especially in the sunny diner on Main Street that he had passed during one night, just to see it. From the outside it looked like any diner, retro but cosy, adorned with soft colors and big windows allowing a steady flow of sunlight during the day. It wasn’t anything special so TJ assumed the food must be extra good seeing as Cyrus and his friends seemed to go there a lot. Sadly, TJ would never know. Either way it wasn’t a place TJ thought he’d ever enjoy and was happy he didn’t even have to decline an invite. 

”I’ll tell her” Andi said absentmindedly, typing on her phone. Once she was done, her face lit up. ”Oh, you have to see this flower I helped Cece plant this weekend, it’s a Black Dahlia” 

”Like the murder?” TJ asked, before thinking. His tone was filled with disbelief and he hoped it didn’t come out to harsh. Andi nodded. 

”Like the murder” She confirmed. ”And the flower” 

TJ shrugged. 

”That’s beautiful!” Cyrus said, beaming at a picture Andi was showing him on her phone. Andi nodded, smiling brightly. She hesitated for a second before turning the phone to show TJ. 

TJ was quiet for a moment, staring at the phone in confusion. Then he said, ”That’s… That’s Amber” 

”What?” She turned the phone back to her and lit up. ”Oh, Amber’s calling! I have to take this, I’ll be right back” she said and soon she was around the corner, out of sight. 

The air suddenly felt twice as thick. TJ smiled stupidly at Cyrus, unsure what to say. 

”Do you like gardening?” Cyrus asked after a moment. 

”Uh” TJ chuckled. ”No, plants requires sun and… I don’t” he said. In hindsight, it had been a stupid thing to say to the friend of a vampire hunter, but around Cyrus thinking rational often didn't work. 

”I’m sure there’s some plant that thrives in the dark… just like you” Cyrus said. He typed something on his phone. ”Look! 17 plants that grow without sunlight” he read off of it. 

”Really?” TJ said curiously. Cyrus reached out to hand him his phone and TJ reached out to take it. 

And then their fingers touched. 

TJ could hear Cyrus audibly gasp as warm met cold. Cyrus pulled his hand back out of instinct. TJ could still feel touch burning against his fingers. He stared at him with wide eyes. 

”I… uhm…” TJ stuttered. His brain was working in overdrive, thoughts screaming over each other making it impossible to make out specific suggestions of actions he could take. He felt powerless. ”I can explain” he said lamely. He couldn’t. 

”You’re a vampire” Cyrus said quietly, to himself really, but loud enough for TJ to flinch.

The hallway felt very narrow, like the walls were closing in on him, on them. It was also emptier than it had felt before, despite not changing that much per capita, and TJ, despite not actually needing to breathe, felt as if all air suddenly was sucked out. They existed in a vacuum, only him and Cyrus. He didn’t dare to move, frozen in his spot anticipating Cyrus’ next move. 

Cyrus seemed to be completely blanking as well. He stared at TJ, mouth moving as if he wanted to say something but no words came out. 

It’s over, TJ made out in the sea of thoughts in his head. It’s all over now. 

Usually when TJ had to move and change schools it was because his foster family reported on him acting weird and sent him back. In the beginning he had hated every single one of them, but as he grew older he realized that having a child who’s not eating any of your food or ever go out during the day unless forced was much more complicated than those families had signed up for.

Would this be the first time he would have to move for being discovered, or would he just be killed in the spot right now? Maybe Cyrus had a button to press to make Buffy appear and stake vampires. 

He had made it alone for so many years. This is what happened when you make friends, his thoughts whispered. When you get close to people, when you open up, even a little bit. Because friends is what Cyrus had called him earlier. He didn’t want to watch Cyrus retract that statement. 

He didn’t want to watch Cyrus distance himself from him.

His brain was screaming at him to run away. Hide. Your secret’s out, it screamed. You’re in danger. Abandon ship!

But Cyrus seemed like the least dangerous person in the world. 

He also wasn’t dumb.

”Did you.. do it?” He asked after about a minute of pressing silence. ”Are you the reason they are scared of me?” 

”I’m not a dangerous person, I swear” TJ rushed out. ”All I did was scare them. I don’t hurt people” 

Cyrus’ face was unreadable for the first time since TJ had met him. Usually his big, (beautiful) brown eyes were bad at hiding emotions. TJ realized that Cyrus didn’t know himself what to feel. 

TJ took a step closer, and thankfully Cyrus didn’t back away. He lowered his voice. ”I don’t feed on people, ok?”

It struck him that he was advocating for everything he usually used against himself. He had never believed himself to be a good person before, but now he desperately needed Cyrus to do so.

”Can we talk about this?” TJ asked, borderline begged, when he got no response from Cyrus. 

Cyrus contemplated it for a second before nodding slowly. He glanced back at where Andi had disappeared. ”I know a place” he said in a low voice, and started walking.

TJ followed him through the halls. He had a strong urge to talk, about anything really. He realized what Cyrus must’ve felt when he first gave TJ a tour of the school, when he didn’t stop talking- the silence was working itself into the bad parts of his brain, the parts that screamed at him how he lost. 

He had never seen Cyrus so quiet. 

What had he done?

Cyrus led them to the art classroom, the one that had sparked their conversation for the first time. He fished out a key, one that TJ would definitely have questioned and/or made fun of had it not been for him being terrified of speaking at the moment, and unlocked the door. Cyrus walked inside and TJ followed him, letting the door fall closed behind him. 

”No classes here in the morning” Cyrus said, breaking the deafening silence. 

”Cool” TJ’s throat felt dry. He looked around the room as Cyrus flipped a switched, turning the lights on. TJ preferred it when the lights were off, but complaining was the last thing he was going to do at the moment. The blinds were closed at least. 

The walls in the art room were covered in amateur art, the desks and chairs where covered in paint and the everywhere laid different kinds of art tools. Organized mess was the way to describe it. TJ didn’t like it.

Cyrus leaned on one of the close by desks and TJ, still unsure what situation he truly was in, stood still, hovering by the door. 

”So…” Cyrus said and paused, contemplating what to say next. He seemed to have collected himself, calmed down. TJ was hoping he was thinking rationally, but not too rationally. ”You’re a vampire, huh?” 

”Pretty much” was all he could say. He didn’t dare breathe.

”You’re not what I’d thought you’d be” Cyrus said after a moment, voice calm and face deep in thought. There was lightness to his expression, which did a great deal to release some of the tension TJ held inside him in anticipation for a reaction.

”What?” TJ asked, confusion winning over fear. ”What does that mean?” 

“I mean, you’re not” Cyrus gestured vaguely, with the hint of a smile on his face, “...wearing a cape or like… eyeliner”

“I don’t sparkle either, if that’s your next question” TJ chuckled nervously. 

Cyrus snorted. “Do you have a dark form?” He asked.

“I think this is my dark form” 

”Touché. Do you… turn into a bat?”

“I wish” 

“You’re a vampire…” 

“Yeah”

“What does that even mean?”

“... I don’t know”

”Should I…” Cyrus hesitated, bit his lip. ”Should I be scared?” He asked, rather reluctantly. 

”No!” TJ exclaimed softly, barely recognizing his own voice. Cyrus nodded solemnly, then smiled. TJ was quiet for a moment, hesitating, ”…should I?”

”You mean, will I tell Buffy?” Cyrus said, realization dawning on him. ”Because you know about her, don’t you?” 

TJ nodded. 

Cyrus sighed. ”No. I won’t tell Buffy” 

TJ couldn’t help but let out a relieved breath. Cyrus smiled softly, and the way TJ’s stomach flipped almost made him wish he could just go back to being an emotionless vampire again.

”So… You don’t eat people?” Cyrus said after a moment. 

”No, only animals” TJ said, hoping it didn’t gross him out. Cyrus nodded understandingly. He added, ”and we call it feeding. Sounds less... brutal” 

”Naturally” Cyrus said, as if it wasn’t the weirdest conversation he had had possibly ever. ”Wait… who’s we?” 

”Uh” TJ cursed his clumsy vocabulary. ”I used to be in a clan” 

Cyrus raised his eyebrows in surprise. ”Really?”

”Yeah. Long time ago. I actually left because I didn’t agree with feeding on humans” he confessed, feeling suddenly insecure. Like it was a too good-person move for him. 

Cyrus looked at him quizzically. TJ squirmed. ”What?” He asked. 

”Very moral for someone who’s generally… morally grey” Cyrus noted, speaking slowly and almost dreamlike. He had this look of soft amazement on his face, one TJ didn’t know how to interpret. ”That’s really awesome” he continued, all of the sudden averting his gaze, turning his head to hide his smile.

”I guess” TJ said. He hadn’t thought of it like it was awesome. His clan had condemned him for it, and humans (except for Cyrus, it seemed) usually wouldn’t think of it nuanced like that. To them he was a monster no matter what he fed off of. 

Cyrus gasped, looking at him with wide eyes. ”You’re a Twilight vegetarian!” 

”Contrary to popular belief, Twilight is not my ideal association. They sparkle. I burn” TJ said. ”But yes. I guess I am” 

”Do you really burn?” Cyrus asked with a grave voice. 

”Not literally” TJ said softly, feeding into Cyrus’ seriousness. He started to feel uncomfortable, vulnerable. ”At least I’ve never stayed in the sun long enough to see if I actually catch on fire. But it feels like it”

”…that sucks” Cyrus stated. 

”Thank you, Captain Obvious” TJ joked, earning a laugh. 

Another moment of silence followed. Cyrus thought about it. After a while, he said quietly, “So, you died?”

He looked at TJ with sad eyes. TJ wanted to tell him that there are worse things than death. He didn’t

“A hit and run” He said, shrugging. He could still see the disoriented sight people shouting, hurrying back inside their car, blurry taillights leaving him defeated on the rainy street before things just went dark. He shuttered and shook his head to get rid of the scene. 

”Really?” Cyrus asked, eyes wide. Then he frowned. ”So then you don’t know who did it?”

”Nope. It actually used to bother me, like a lot” he confessed. It was the first time he had ever told anyone that. Cyrus kept pushing some button in him, making him say things he’d never thought he would tell anyone, to no fail. The words fell heavy. ”I was angry, I wanted revenge or something” he said, feeling his hands starting to cramp, a spark of anger igniting inside him. He looked at his hands. ”It’s dumb”

”It’s not dumb” Cyrus said without missing a beat. ”You’re entitled to your anger”

TJ scoffed softly, feeling desperate to deflect before things got too emotional or serious. ”How therapist-y of you” 

”Oh please, that’s my father” Cyrus joked. ”And my mother. And step-mother. And step-father” 

TJ visibly cringed. ”Yikes” 

”I know” Cyrus agreed. 

They shared a smile and things felt marginally better. TJ thought for the first time that maybe, MAYBE, this wasn’t the end of everything. 

”I’m over it now” TJ said after a while.

”huh?”

”The whole death thing. Like this person hit a ten year old and drove away. To live with the guilt of that… that’s worse than anything I could ever do to them” 

Cyrus looked shocked. With a quiet voice he asked, ”You were ten?” 

”Oh. Yeah” TJ shrugged. ”I age just like humans. It’s one of those things that doesn’t follow the lore”

”So you’re not…immortal?” Cyrus asked. 

”Well, I haven’t died yet” TJ said pointed out. ”But no, not that I know of”

”You don’t know?”

”Well, I left the clan before they really explained anything to me. I’m kinda just making it up as I go. Makes things more interesting”

”And dangerous” Cyrus frowned. 

”And interesting” TJ said, smiling convincingly. Nothing about his life was safe. He was sweetening the truth. ”Hey maybe you have some info? Being best friends with my mortal enemy and all”

”You mean Buffy?” 

”The vampire slayer” TJ confirmed. 

Cyrus face looked regretful. ”I really brought you to her house, didn’t I” 

TJ chuckled. ”Yeah. It smells terrible by the way” 

”Because of the garlic” Cyrus nodded understandingly. ”I never notice it”

”Lucky” TJ teased. ”I have… enhanced senses, I guess you could say” 

”Cool!” Cyrus said.

”Annoying” TJ answered.

Cyrus grimaced. ”Honestly, Buffy usually talks about the ways to spot and… kill a vampire, but…” he trailed off. 

”…but she’d not very good at spotting and killing a vampire” TJ filled in, pointing to himself. ”Living proof. Well, undead proof”

”You’re good at hiding” Cyrus said. Then he continued seriously, ”She wouldn’t kill you, I know she’s not actually capable of that. Buffy’s a good person, she’s just… very determined”

”Determination can take you far” 

”Not murder-far” 

TJ thought about his words. Cyrus was right, he admitted, speaking from experience there was a difference in talking about killing something and actually doing it. Buffy, to all her credit, didn’t seem to have the guts. Or the lack of compassion and moral you’d have to have to be able to kill someone.

”Where do we go from here?” TJ asked hesitantly, growing anxious once again. Their conversation had been more than friendly, falling into to familiar patterns in a quite calming way, making it even harder to deal with the thought of Cyrus wanting nothing to do with him now. He didn’t know what he had been missing and now he never wanted it to be gone again. Friendship, that is, he told himself in a stern voice.

”What do you mean?” Cyrus frowned.

”I don’t know… I just… this has to change things, right?”

Cyrus was quiet for a moment, thinking about it, long enough for TJ to grow a strong hatred for the wall clock ticking, underlining the silence, making it unbearably loud.

”Well, everything I’ve ever heard about… vampires” Cyrus said quietly, ”comes from someone who’s very biased. I don’t think it’s fair to you for me to completely disregard you because of what Buffy’s told me beforehand”

”…okay” TJ said slowly, not completely following the conclusion Cyrus had come to. 

”I’m saying that I kind of know you now, and I don’t think you’re a bad person” Cyrus clarified. 

TJ sighed in relief, but tried to play it off as just a casual exhale. ”Cool.”

They shared a smile and TJ could feel warmth spreading through his stomach and creeping up his neck. He brought his hand up to his neck. He still felt awkward. Cyrus picked up on it, unfortunately. 

”It’s not going to be weird” he said determinately. He extended his hand, palm facing upwards. ”Here” 

TJ looked at it with confusion, unsure what to do. Cyrus, seeing as TJ did nothing, pushed himself off the desk he was leaning against and moved towards him. 

TJ swallowed nervously, and hesitated. He hadn’t intentionally touched anyone in years, growing used to the absence of human contact. He glanced up at Cyrus face, soft smile warming his non-beating heart, and back down at the open palm. He took a step forward.

He could practically hear Cyrus’ heart beating. 

Making eye contact, he reached forward and slowly placed his palm in Cyrus’. 

Cyrus maintained the eye contact and didn’t flinch even a little bit as TJ’s cold skin touched his warm. TJ could never determine the temperature in a room or if something he was touching was too hot or cold, but he could feel the heat spreading between his and Cyrus’ hands, warming him up inside. It wasn’t like anything he’d experienced before and as Cyrus smiled at him he couldn’t not smile back. He could never not smile back.

Soon after that he decided that the sound of the bell was the worst sound to ever exist. 

The sharp, shrill sound made them both jump and Cyrus immediately retracted his hand, leaving an empty, cold feeling in TJ’s palm. TJ closed his eyes, still hearing the ringing sound drilling into his skull after the bell stopped. 

As he opened his eyes again, he was met by Cyrus’ flushed cheeks and sheepish smile. 

He let out a silent laugh, powered by an overwhelming sense of relief. Only a couple of minutes ago he had thought he’d lost everything. Now he was thinking maybe he had gained more than he had lost in the first place.

”Guess it’s time for class” he said, smiling at how unbelievable it would be to sit in a classroom after this. 

”Guess so” Cyrus said, seemingly thinking in the same patterns as the smile covering his face was tinged by the same disbelief. 

Neither of them wanted to move. It wasn’t a normal Monday. It felt impossible to act like it was. 

Cyrus sighed loudly.

”So, I need to get to class. So do you” he said, weighing from one foot to the other. ”But do you want to hang out some time? Maybe tomorrow? After school?” 

”Tomorrow sounds great” TJ fought to keep the smile on is face from getting too wide. 

”Nice” Cyrus nodded and then kept nodding a little too long before he willed himself to stop. ”Uhm, see you then?” 

”See you then” TJ said, feeling like a small child. A small, happy child. 

He went to class looking forward to tomorrow.

***

Cyrus was in a dilemma, to say the least. And he was slowly dying.

He really liked TJ. Like really liked him. 

He’s nice (even though that didn't seem to be an universal opinion, but the fact that Cyrus got to see that side when most people don’t… it just made him like him even more)

He looked good, Cyrus wasn’t afraid to admit that.

He was surprisingly funny. 

It all felt so natural.

And the whole moral I-don’t-feed-off-of-humans thing? Wow. It was really hot. Sure the context might be bad. But. Wow. 

So yeah, Cyrus might’ve had a teeny tiny crush on TJ. Sue him. He couldn’t help it (and in all fairness, he didn’t want to help it either).

He couldn’t stop smiling because of their exchange that morning. The way TJ had trusted him. It filled his body with warmth and made his heart beat harder, more furiously. He could still feel the cold burning against his skin, far from unpleasant. When Cyrus first had extended his hand for TJ to take, he had unknowingly braced himself for a cold reminder of how very much not alive TJ was, but it wasn’t it. It hadn’t been. Taking TJ’s hand in his hadn’t felt cold, with the exception for the temperature. Maybe it was the warm feeling spreading from the hand through his body, maybe it was how very normal it felt. How very human it felt…

Which is where the dilemma fit into his story.

In Cyrus’ defense, it wasn’t like blowing friends off because a crush wanted to get ice cream. 

It was hiding someone’s identity from someone who might be potentially dangerous. And yes, in this scenario ”someone” was his crush, and that other ”someone” was his best friend. 

He hadn’t been lying when he said that Buffy never could kill him. She was a lot of talk, but Cyrus knew her better than most and he knew she could never actually kill anyone. 

There was still a lot of other things she could do with the new information about TJ, and Cyrus didn’t want to give her the opportunity for any of it. If anything, he was saving her the moral dilemma of having a vampire within her social circle. Cyrus was going through that enough for the both of them. 

The rest of the day went painfully slow, but before he knew it he was entering The Spoon to meet with Andi, Buffy and Jonah. 

He hadn’t gotten much done, understandably distracted. He had a lot more questions, of course. There was a scientist side of him that just wanted get down to the biology of it all, pick it apart piece by piece to see how any of it worked. But then there was another part of him, a much bigger part, who wanted to know more about TJ, vampire or not. 

Hearing him talk about himself and his experiences, even in a very minimalistic manner, was interesting and exciting and he wanted to hear more. He wanted to know everything, not because it was fascinating but because it was TJ.

A teeny, tiny crush.

When he got to The Spoon, only Jonah was there, seated at a booth near the door. He was sat staring out in the distance, absentmindedly spinning a coaster between his fingers. 

He looked up as the door made the noise signaling someone entered and smiled widely as he saw Cyrus. 

”Cy!” Jonah called out, dropping the coaster on the table. 

”Hey Jonah” Cyrus sat down opposite to him. ”Are you the first one here?” 

”No, but…” Jonah nodded towards the counter. Cyrus looked over.

Andi was standing leaned over the counter, talking to Amber, who was very much in her uniform still, in a hushed voice. Just as Cyrus looked over they both started giggling.

”Of course” Going to The Spoon nowadays was always risky seeing as if Amber was working, Andi was twice as hard to talk to, being constantly distracted. At first it had been sweet, but the more it happened, the more just plain annoying it was. 

Whilst waiting for either Buffy to arrive and call Andi over, or for Amber’s manager to notice her not doing what she was supposed to and stop their conversation in a harsh manner, Jonah and Cyrus struck up some casual conversation.

Jonah glanced back at them. ”Can I ask you something?”

”Anything” Cyrus said. 

”Do you think it’s weird to have two of your ex-girlfriends dating each other?” Jonah asked. So much for casual.

”Uhm, I don’t know” Cyrus said awkwardly. ”Do you?”

”I should, right?” Jonah asked.

”Not if you don’t” Cyrus frowned, tilting his head. ”You get to decide what to feel”

Jonah looked over at Ambi again, just as Amber leaned over and pecked Andi on the lips. He looked back at Cyrus again, face deep in thought. 

”I don’t think I mind” he said after a moment. ”It’s great that they’re happy. And I like being friends with them more than dating either way”

”There you go” Cyrus said, slightly relieved that it wasn’t an issue that would mess with their friendship group. Ambi had been dating for a while now and it hadn’t been a problem before. ”Any reason you’re thinking of this now?” 

”Not really” Jonah shrugged. ”It just struck me that some people would be upset. Or jealous. Did you know I was asked by two different people today if I wanted to go on a date?” 

”Really?” A couple of years ago Cyrus would’ve been jealous out of his mind. Of the (presumably) girls who could just straight up ask Jonah Beck on a date. He was glad it wasn’t like that anymore. Being friends with Jonah was good enough, if not better. 

Somewhere he suspected that Jonah knew about his old crush. He wasn’t as dumb as his image often led people to believe. And Cyrus was thankful for not having to have that conversation with him, as Jonah never brought it up. He really appreciated how they could, even after he came out, have a normal relationship. 

”What did you say?” Cyrus wondered.

”No!” Jonah exclaimed. He sighed. ”I don’t know them”

Cyrus nodded understandingly. 

”And even if I did…” Jonah continued, ”I’m not in the mood to date” 

”Then you don’t have to” Cyrus nodded. 

Jonah looked at him, looking like he was about to continue when a warm voice interrupted them.

”Hey, nerds” 

Buffy, ever so gracefully, made them both jump as she approached the table they were sat at. 

”Hey… jock”

”You know, that’s not as hurtful as I think you think it is” 

Buffy gestured for someone to move and Jonah got the hint and moved in so that she could sit down next to him. 

”So, what are we talking about?” She asked. 

”You know… dating” 

”Mhm” Buffy nodded. Usually it was one of those subjects Buffy would demand to know more about, but today she didn’t entirely seem to register what was said to her. She seemed… nervous, which was very unlike her. Cyrus immediately grew worried. 

He was just about to ask about it when Buffy cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted ”Hey! Andi!”, effectively catching Andi’s, and everyone else in the Spoon’s, attention. Andi excused herself, said goodbye to Amber and made her way over. 

Cyrus scooted in so that she could sit down next to him in the booth. 

”Hey” she smiled at them, throwing one last glance back at Amber before giving them her undivided attention. Unfortunately for him, she turned to Cyrus. ”Where did you go this morning? You just disappeared” 

Ah, you mean when you left for just a minute and I accidentally discovered that TJ’s a vampire, Cyrus thought bitterly knowing full well it wasn’t something he could tell the people around the table. He felt a bittersweet mix of excitement and anxiety when thinking about the morning he’d had. 

”I, uh…” he trailed off, mind blanking in search of a good excuse. He settled for some cheat version of the truth. ”I had to talk to TJ”

He received mixed reactions. Jonah looked both fascinated and confused, Buffy frowned and Andi nodded understandingly. 

”I figured” Andi said. ”I just wished you’d said goodbye that’s all” 

”I know, I’m sorry” he felt bad, he did. But with everything that had been happening in that moment, it had completely slipped his mind. ”It was urgent”. That definitely wasn’t a lie. 

Buffy looked at him suspiciously. ”What did you talk about?” She asked slowly. 

Cyrus looked directly at her, feeling both defiant and bad for lying. His heart rate had increased a noticeable amount within the last minute or so. 

”It was personal” he said vaguely. Buffy seemed to be about to comment on it, so he took away her opportunity to do so. ”What did you want to talk to us about?” 

”Right” Buffy nodded and looked out over The Spoon, thinking about something. She sighed. ”So I’ve been thinking about what you said” she started and looked at Cyrus, who’s brain went into overdrive trying to figure out what he could’ve said to Buffy to make her think, and came up with nothing. 

To be fair, what she was about to say next, none of them would’ve expected ever. She said, 

”and I think I might’ve been wrong about vampires.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m the first to admit it, yes, I cheated. I just… the whole like ”Oh, I will live forever and you won’t and we’re in love how d0 we solve this” dilemma is both (in my opinion) overplayed and kinda… too dark for this fic? Like that would either end in TJ or someone having to convert Cyrus into a vampire, or having to watch him grow old and die. Either of those is like… no. Ya know? So yeah, I cheated, but you know what? I like happy endings! I like when the main couple get together in the end, and I like it when no one dies. People are too edgy nowadays, there always have to be some dark twist or something horrible happening in the end. Not this time, no sir. I guess this is kinda a spoiler, but fudge it. I usually write happy endings and if I don’t I think I’d tag it because I know how fudged up I can get from a bad ending, and I can imagine that I’m not the only one. Like it can literally be triggering, so yes, I would warn people if it didn’t have a happy ending. (Watch me write this and then end this story super sad. No, I’d never do that. I wouldn’t do that to myself, lol, I care so much about the characters I could never). I’m so sick of the bad endings, especially in LGBTQ+ stories, right? Let us live happily ever after for once, it’s what we deserve. ANYWAYS. Oh! And I changed the tags. Truth be told, I was kinda panicking when I wrote the tags for the story, I just kinda wrote something. Like it’s a type of summarization and I don’t have the bigger picture. I’m a detail person. I deleted ”slow burn” bc like…. Nothing here is slow. Slow burn is like people lighting a fire in the kitchen and wait for the rest of the house to catch on fire? Fudge that, here we douse the entire first floor and flick a lit match through the window. Actually, we’re most likely upstairs as it ignites, but still. There’s nothing slow, it’s intense and it happens. Wanna hear another fun fact about tagging? I almost tagged this as MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH because, well, technically one (?) character is dead, but that felt heavily misleading. I wouldn’t ACTUALLY kill anyone off unless they, like in this, would keep living. LOL. So I didn't think the joke wasn't worth it. It's 2 am here btw. No, I'm not American. SURPRISE! Another FUN fact about me is that English is not my native language. Watch people be like "Ya we know, we're just polite enough to not comment on it". Idk maybe people can tell, but I hope they can't. I work really hard on like the small mistakes and I know some of them still slip through my many grammar checks, but honestly I feel like that happens when native-English speakers write as well. Maybe not the same mistakes but oh well. Is it limiting? Not as much as you'd think. Sometimes I express things clumsily but still, I think I hold my ground most of the time? Does this make sense? Again, it's 2 am. I should sleep. ACTUALLY it's only 1 am. WOW Horton hears a liar. It's me. I'm the liar. Cut my tongue off, will ya? That is the punishment for lying right? It is where I'm from. Just kidding. I don't think lying is a crime? Thing is, part of the reason I haven't told y'all I'm non-English-native-speaking (yes, that is how you do that) before is bc I wanted people to judge my writing before being like "Oh it's because they don't know the language well" or be like "This is good for a non native speaker". And people feel more entitled to correcting my grammar once they realize they're superior in some way. Far from everyone, but I am like that, and I just didn't have the energy to deal with people like me. Wow. What a mood. ANYWAYS. This doesn't make sense, but I'm going to bed. Thank you so much for reading! Again, I appreciate all of the response I've gotten so far, thank you so much! Until next time, BYEEEE


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As soon as Marty sliced the frog open and uttered ”woah” softly in the process, TJ knew he wouldn’t make it. It wasn’t as if it was the first time he had seen a dead animal, of course not, but whenever he usually dealt with the animal it wasn’t in a contained classroom full of human people and it wasn’t for science. Acting like he was just like his classmates was hard when the nature of his vampirism was presented to him in such a slap-in-the-face way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Less goooo! Thank you for reading fam. Very grateful. New chapter. Enjoy! (i've scrapped the twilight parody beginning notes because.. I can't be bothered. anyways. Less gooo!)

Cyrus remembered the day Buffy sat him and Andi down and told them about vampires vividly. 

It had been a sunny day, one of many in Shadyside. Buffy explained that that was one of the reasons she had come to Shadyside in the first place. She suspected her parents had moved there when her mom got pregnant because the constant sun drove vampires away. So that they could be safe until Buffy was ready. 

”Ready for what?” Andi had asked. They were twelve years old, and sat in Andi Shack, hidden away from the world. Andi’s close relative Cece had come in the middle of Buffy’s (what seemed like at the time) storytelling and the three of them had jumped as Cece knocked on the door to ask if they wanted lemonade. Andi had politely declined, too invested in the story for any soft drinks. 

”Vampires” Buffy said, staring at them with wide eyes, as if she was blowing their minds at the very second. Andi and Cyrus were quiet for a moment before they both burst out laughing, convinced she was joking.

”Vampires aren’t real” Cyrus said, shaking his head fondly. ”But good one”

But Buffy didn’t budge. She told them about her grandma Amelia. She always got stars in her eyes when she spoke about grandma Amelia, speaking with a grave voice, still warm. Cyrus had never met grandma Amelia, but many times had he studied the painting of her hanging in Buffy’s living room. He had never met her, but he still held an immense amount of respect for the woman. 

When Buffy was younger, grandma Amelia would tell her stories of the undead. By the sounds of it, the stories were too grave and gory for a child like her, but grandma Amelia had told Buffy nevertheless. She told her about the vicious feeding habits the creatures carried, how they were dead but still walking, and how to kill them. How to kill them dead. 

Buffy’s parents would occasionally overhear the stories grandma Amelia would tell, and they would shake their heads fondly and mumble something about a vivid imagination. But Buffy didn’t miss the secret conversations in hushed voices about how she was too young and wasn’t ready. 

Grandma Amelia told her stories about the vampires she had killed, how she had ended their lives and was spoken highly about in hunter circles. She had won medals, and was famous if you asked the right people. Or the wrong people, in some cases. 

When Buffy retold the stories to Andi and Cyrus, the two of them grimaced throughout, horrified to hear the stories that had once been told to a child.

Grandma Amelia had died by the time Buffy turned nine. Cancer they said. Buffy didn’t believe them. She knew the vampires had come after her grandma Amelia. And she knew one day she would come after them.

The sun had gleamed through the windows of Andi Shack, and through the many holes in the wood. Buffy had let a single sun ray dance over her hand, moving it at the height of her face, as she continued, eyes fixed on the light hitting her skin. 

”I know why my mom’s away so much” she said. Andi and Cyrus looked at each other, unsure of what to say. ”She’s out there, hunting them. Protecting us” 

She let her hand drop and looked over to her friends who were watching her intensely. ”I know it’s true!” She exclaimed. ”Think about it! Why else would we have garlic everywhere? Or wooden stakes in the closets? It’s protection! They’re out there!”

She stopped, looking at them expectantly. There was a long silence following, expectantly waiting as if they could hear them if it was quiet enough. They could hear the vampires out there.

”Wow” Andi breathed out. Cyrus nodded in agreement. ”This is a lot to take in” 

The air in Andi Shack stood very still. The sun basking through the windows exposed the dust peacefully flowing in the air. Somewhere in the distance someone was mowing their lawn.

”You believe me, right?” Buffy asked, suddenly sounding very small. 

”Of course” Cyrus said immediately, gut response to the heartfelt question. And they did. Somehow, they did, no matter how wild the theory Buffy was presenting sounded. 

 Buffy’s face broke up in a smile. ”One day, I’ll be like them” she said, confidence filled her voice. ”Just like mom and grandma” 

Then Cece knocked again, with a tray full of lemonade. 

Cyrus thought about that moment a lot after receiving this new information. He thought about how twelve year old Cyrus ate every single one of Buffy’s words up without thinking twice. How older, biology nerd Cyrus had started doubting it, in the back of his head, like a secret. He would never ever tell Buffy that. That there was a part of him deep down that didn’t believe it, because vampires - they were make-believe. Lore you told villagers to keep them inside at night. Something you told children to explain why their grandpa wouldn’t come and visit anymore. 

The more he got into science, the less believable it seemed. The biology of it all didn’t add up. Sometimes he’d bring it up with Buffy. Not as an invite to a debate or with a strong opinion, he was just curious, but Buffy would give half-vague explanations said with such confidence that there was no arguing whether she was right or not. 

He believed in explanations. 

Then TJ came along. And dropped this new information, like a bomb forcing him to question everything he’d known about science - again. 

It was as if he knew vampires were real, but then deeper down he knew they probably weren’t and Buffy just used them to cover up repressed abandonment issues that they were bound to talk about one day but Cyrus really didn’t think he should be the first one to bring up, Buffy should come to that conclusion herself first - and then suddenly TJ came and changed everything by confirming what had been said from the beginning. 

Somewhere Cyrus was relieved, this freed him of the sense of guilt he had been battling ever since he first came to terms with vampires probably not being real and having to basically lie to Buffy about it. However it was replaced by a much bigger portion of guilt that was having to lie to Buffy about essentially being on her side, which he technically wasn’t.

Either way, that portion of guilt doubled, grew proportionally bigger, as Buffy, approximately eight hours after Cyrus found out that vampire were, in fact, real, sat him, Andi and Jonah down and, sighed dramatically, and said,

”I’m not sure vampires exist”

”What?!” Three voices rang in chorus. Hearing her say that felt as believable as hearing Santa say that they preferred easter. Or to hear Santa saying anything for that matter, effectively confirming their existence.

”Look, I know it sounds unbelievable, trust me” Buffy sighed. ”But it’s like you said” she said, nodding to Cyrus who still for the life of him wasn’t able to figure out what he had said. “I’ve never actually met a vampire” 

You have, he thought desperately. 

“I don’t know if they actually exist” 

They do.

“What if I was wrong about it this whole time?” 

You weren't. You’ve been right all along. 

”But…” Cyrus said weakly, recalling the conversation they had last Friday. ”You’ve never met a giraffe either, remember? And those are real!” His stomach was starting to hurt. He could feel Andi and Jonah look at him with frowning faces, partially blaming him for Buffy’s distraught. Or maybe his own guilt was drowning out any sense he had of an outside perspective.

”Right, but people talk giraffes” Buffy said with a wild look in her face, the one of someone’s who is unsure what’s true and what’s not. ”My mom never says anything about vampires. I just assumed. And everything my grandma told me… she was old. How do I know she wasn’t just making things up? Or genuinely believed something that wasn’t real? Isn’t real” 

”Buffy, come on!” Andi said, voice hinting at desperation. ”You said it yourself, you’re too young! That’s why they haven’t told you” 

”Yeah” Cyrus nodded faintly. He could stop this, he knew that. He should stop it, he should say ’Buffy, vampires are real, I know one. YOU know one’ and Buffy wouldn’t have to question everything she knew anymore. But he couldn’t, of course he couldn’t. 

”I just…” Buffy dropped her head in her hands and groaned. When she looked up again her eyes had grown tired, and she sighed. ”I just feel like something would’ve happened by now, you know? Like, have I been basing my life around something that doesn’t actually exist?” 

She dropped her head in her hands again, not crying, Buffy never did it seemed, but movements filled with a powerless waiver. Jonah, sat beside her, looked at Cyrus and Andi with big eyes. 

Cyrus cherished the memory of Jonah finding out, forever grateful he got to be there to witness it. To this day it never failed to make him smile, remembering Jonah’s expression as Buffy explained how vampires are real after deciding he was worthy enough for the information, and the confusion mixed with disbelief portrayed on his face. It was much more fun when you’re not the one getting your entire worldview completely disproven. 

Andi leaned forward. ”Buffy, you’re more than a vampire hunter-”

”I’m not even that!” Buffy exclaimed. Andi was taken aback, but quickly cleared her throat and continued,

”you love basketball! Sports! You’re a good friend, a great! friend! You’re funny and strong headed and driven and…” Andi looked at the boys for help.  
”really smart!” Cyrus said. Andi nodded. Jonah agreed verbally,   
”Yeah! And strong! And a great leader” 

”The point is,” Andi said ”even if what you’re saying is true, even if vampires aren’t real, it’s not the end of everything, right! There’s so much more to you than that”

Cyrus nodded in agreement, but he felt like he was on the verge of tears. He had never seen Buffy so distraught, so unsure of herself before. The small, unlicensed therapist inside him wanted to break out and go all therapy mode, telling her all sorts of things about self-doubt and how one moment of darkness wasn’t going to bring her down, but he could barely trust himself to speak, much less argue for or against the existence of vampires. 

Jonah, as smooth as ever, hesitantly lifted his hand and then even more hesitantly put it on Buffy’s shoulder, patting gently. Buffy, first confused then smiling slightly, looked at Jonah in appreciation of the small, somewhat awkward but still goodhearted gesture and sighed. 

”I’m just frustrated” she confessed, and somehow it sounded more genuine, more vulnerable than any of the things she had said before. ”I feel like I’m wasting time and energy on something that might just be fantasy. My parents won’t tell me anything and the only source I had for any of this died eight years ago”

Cyrus knew it was his turn to say something, seeing as him being quiet during a moment of crisis like this one was very out of character, so he steadied himself and said, 

”You deserve the truth” not that he was going to give her the truth, he thought bitterly, hurrying to continue before he was swallowed by guilt, ”but until your parents decide to tell you, questioning it might be… wasteful?” 

”What do you mean?” Buffy frowned. Cyrus looked at her, but he could feel all eyes on him around the table, and it stressed him out a little. 

”I’m just saying that you can give the issue attention without it being undivided” he clarified. ”Focus on being a teenager, having fun, doing the things you want to do, while you can. Once your parents actually tell you, that’s a lot of responsibility. And you don’t owe them anything, if this is all real” (he could hear his own voice in the back of his head, him, shocked, saying ”you're a vampire” and TJ’s look of terror that confirmed it to be true) ”then they’re actively keeping something from you” 

”… you’re saying I should enjoy it while it lasts?” Buffy asked, face thoughtful. 

Cyrus looked to Andi and Jonah, and got nothing from either of them. ”In a sense, yeah” he said. It wasn’t word for word, but it was about what he had been saying. He wasn’t sure if it was genuine advice or diversion from reality. Probably both. 

”Hmm” Buffy thought about it. ”I guess you’re right” 

”I am?” Cyrus asked before catching himself. ”I mean, yeah, of course I am” 

”I don’t know if it’s real, and there’s no point in dwelling on it until I do, right?”

”…right” 

”I should be out enjoying my freedom as a teenager!” She rose from her chair with determination, but faltered. She stood up for a while before falling back down to her seat. ”…what does a free person do?” 

”Oh!” Andi sparked up. ”I got permission from Metcalf to repaint the mural! You could help me?” 

”The one in the back?” Jonah asked, sounding impressed. The mural at the back of the school had been like that since Cyrus could remember, a skewed picture of Angels either dancing or fighting, no one could tell really and somewhere Cyrus figured that might be the point, against a red sky. It was terrifying.

”Yes! I had a vision for it and everything, but Metcalf agreed to it almost immediately! I didn’t even have to show him my portfolio…”

”I guess he learned not to cross you ever since the dressing code thing” Jonah chuckled.

”That sound fun!” Buffy said earnestly. 

”We could all do it!” Andi exclaimed. ”The four of us, Amber, Marty… and maybe you could ask TJ?” She added hesitantly, looking at Cyrus. She smiled kindly, sort of knowingly, and Cyrus wasn’t quite sure what she thought she knew. Then again, deeper down, he knew exactly what it could be. 

”Uh, yeah, sure” he said with a red face, unsure if he was actually going to. Maybe TJ and the rest of his friends were parts of his life that he needed to keep separate from now on. Somehow not only knowing but also deliberately having Buffy hang out with a vampire felt even worse than just lying about their existence.

”Great!”

But at the same time, Cyrus desperately wanted to show Buffy how wrong she ultimately was. Cyrus, to his knowledge had only met one, but the vampire he had met was warm and friendly and… human, albeit a little cold and hostile at first, completely disagreeing with everything Buffy had told him about what to expect. Cyrus wanted to show Buffy that they weren’t bad people despite everything she had been taught. 

”I’d like to keep the theme of the painting though… I really like how it keeps the meaning behind it up for interpretation…”

He knew there was no way she’d see any of that if she found out about TJ’s vampirism before really getting to know him, Cyrus thought, or at least it would be way harder to get her to keep an open mind. Andi hadn’t been lying about her being strong headed. 

”Are they fighting? Are they expressing their love? No one knows, right? Just like it can be in real life”

It wasn’t a good option, but it might be the best. To pretend like nothing’s anything and everything normal. Withholding the truth isn’t lying, is it? 

”…I don’t think it’s that deep… It’s just a weird painting”

Deep down he knew it was, but at least it was in the means to keep someone else’s secret, one that wasn’t his to tell in the first place. Buffy could understand that part, Cyrus was sure. It was just everything else that was an issue.

”Cyrus, are you ok?” Buffy asked. Suddenly they were the only ones left at the table, after looking around in confusion, Cyrus noticed how Andi and Jonah had made their way over to Amber, and were now talking with her in a happy manner. He wondered how long they had been gone and how he hadn’t noticed them leaving the table. ”You’re frowning”

”I’m just thinking about… dinner” he said, going with the first thing in his head that wasn’t ”TJ” or ”Vampire”. Or ”Lying”.

”Ok…” Buffy said slowly. She looked at him for a moment, quizzically. ”You know I’m here, right? If you ever wanna talk about… dinner” she said seriously. 

”Of course” Cyrus breathed. 

Buffy smiled softly. ”Come on. Amber’s shift just ended and we’re heading to the park” 

She rose from her seat and noticed how Cyrus was still sat. ”You coming?”

”I’ll be right there!” He said. Buffy hesitated for a moment before she shrugged and made her way over to the others. Cyrus watched her walk away with a sinking stomach. 

Completely screwed, thy name was Cyrus. 

 

***

 

TJ felt pretty good. 

He felt really good, actually. 

In fact, he felt the best he had in a very long time. 

It had only a little to do with Cyrus. 

Well, it had a lot to do with Cyrus, but mostly it had to do with the fact that there was another person in his life that knew about him and didn’t feel completely appalled by it. 

Cyrus finding out had had a better outcome than TJ had ever even dared to dream about. None of TJ’s scenarios had ended happily, best case a silent head shake of disapproval, worst case a stake through the heart. He had never seen anyone knowing as an option before now, and then suddenly his secret was shared by another person, and he didn’t feel like he was in danger even. Not more than usual.

So yeah, he felt good. 

That, of course, until his professor entered the biology classroom with tired steps and a tired expression and announced in a tired voice, 

”Ok, class, time to dissect some frogs” 

as a tired attempt to hype the class, failing miserably. 

TJ had known taking biology was a risk when he had signed up for it, but it gave him a lot of useful knowledge about… vampiring, and he had deemed it worth it. Like the anatomy of various animals, and the basic nature of humanity which was always useful when trying to pass as part of it.

Now, trapped in a classroom where fifteen frogs soon were about to be cut open, it suddenly didn’t seem to be too worth it anymore.

To make matters worse, or at least TJ assumed it would, Marty apparently was in his class and had walked up to him before class saying ”Hey TJ! Mind if I sit?” in a peppy voice to cover up the fact that he seemed a little nervous about it. 

TJ couldn’t bring himself to say no.

He wasn’t the only one in the class who seemed to be distraught over today's class, a guy behind him loudly exclaimed ”Eww!” and the girl beside him had visibly paled at the thought of it. Then of course they had the kids in the class with the opposite reaction, namely the guy he recognized as Gus, who was grinning and the person beside him looked inappropriately excited about the task at hand. 

Soon he found himself with a frog in front of him and Marty, complete with plastic gloves and a dissection knife. Marty looked focused, immediately putting on the gloves and grabbing the knife, very serious about the dissection process. 

Frogs were better than the pigs heart he had been dealt in a previous school, forcing him to rush out of the classroom in a panic, but he could feel his face paling and stomach sinking for each moment that passed. 

”Cool!” Marty spoke in awe, completely unaware of the situation his desk partner currently was dealing with, and poked the dead frog with a gloved finger. ”Look at that” 

”I’d rather not” TJ said through gritted teeth, wanting nothing more than to look away, unable to do so. So far it wasn’t even that bad, he had no idea what he would do once they start cutting in it. 

”Are you ok, man?” Marty asked, sounding genuinely concerned. TJ swallowed. 

”Mhm” he forced a smile to his face and nodded. 

Marty shrugged and turned back to the teacher, who was explaining what exactly they were to do with the frog-carcass laid in front of them. TJ couldn’t bring himself to listen, hoping Marty would do the paying of attention and later the cutting of frog. 

As soon as Marty sliced the frog open and uttered ”woah” softly in the process, TJ knew he wouldn’t make it. It wasn’t as if it was the first time he had seen a dead animal, of course not, but whenever he usually dealt with the animal it wasn’t in a contained classroom full of human people and it wasn’t for science. Acting like he was just like his classmates was hard when the nature of his vampirism was presented to him in such a slap-in-the-face way.

But more than that, the smell was overwhelming. He tried to think of literally anything else but nothing could drown out the dead frog.

(dead frog. dead frog. dead frog.)

The small room, which felt like it was shrinking by the minute, was soon filled with the stank of dead frog, overriding all other senses, overpowering any sense of an outside world. 

(dead frog.)

”Mr Kippen, pay attention” the teacher had the nerve to say, completely insensitive to the fact that even without TJ’s background and immediate nature, the task they were given wasn’t for everyone. Only two rows in front of him a girl was gagging. 

TJ glared at the teacher, who didn’t see it as he was suddenly preoccupied with another student dangling the dead frog from its leg, waving it towards the gagging girl, who let out a shrill scream. TJ saw it as an opportunity to leave the classroom, but didn’t get very far before

”Where are you going, dude?” Marty whispered. 

(dead frog.)

”I can’t be here” he answered earnestly, urgently. 

Marty was about to answer when another voice rang out;

”Mr Kippen, sit. down.” The teacher exclaimed, sounding stern and almost offended. His expression resembled one of a mom with too many children lose in a grocery store, wild from trying to maintain control over the situation. He was holding the frog that had been recently dangled in its leg by the head, without the protective layer of plastic glove between him and the skin of the frog, effectively putting a stop to the conflict.

TJ was done. Blood, no blood, boiling he turned around, clenched fist and he was about to screw it all up, as the panic rose inside him (dead frog) but then, out of nowhere, someone spoke in his place.

”TJ isn’t feeling well, sir, can I please take him to the nurse?” Marty stood up beside him, smiling innocently. 

TJ was so shocked he forgot that he was angry.

The teacher looked between the two of them in disbelief, wanting nothing more than to bust them both, sit them down and make them cut the bloody frog, but decided he had enough on his plate as it was without instigating a fight between them and sighed, grabbing a hall pass and handed it to Marty. Without so much as a word, the two of them left the classroom.

(no dead frog.)

”Thanks” TJ said, once the door closed behind them and he felt like he wasn’t fainting. He couldn’t keep the reserved suspicion out of his voice.

”No problem” Marty smiled widely. He twirled the hall pass between his fingers. A silence followed, one just a tad too long for any conversation starter to feel natural, then Marty, of course, broke it. ”So… what was the problem?” 

”huh?”

”Why did you try and leave?” Marty asked. They were walking down the hall, not heading anywhere in particular. TJ would’ve preferred spending this time alone, but seeing as Marty got him out of there AND they only did get one hall pass, he couldn’t exactly leave. Which was weird in a sense, because TJ only a couple of months ago would’ve had no problem leaving someone like Marty to his own devices. He didn’t remember getting… nice?

”I don’t like… dead things” he shrugged, keeping his face forward. Vague enough to hold as an explanation, but he still awaited the many follow-ups to that statement but was surprised when he only got an,

”ok” in response. 

TJ didn’t know what to say to that, so he stayed quiet. Their footsteps echoed in the empty hallway, highlighting how no one else was nearby, no one to keep them from the awkward silence they were walking straight into. After a while Marty said,

”When I was younger I wanted to be a mortician”

”…what?”

”You know, someone who fixes dead people up before the funeral” Marty clarified. ”Like make up and all that”

”I know but…why?” TJ couldn’t help but laugh, the mere idea of cutting people up as a profession was absurd in his eyes. Marty was surprising.

Marty shrugged. ”Sounded cool” 

TJ scoffed. 

”Sounds like someone watched too many crime shows” 

”Six Feet Under, actually” Marty said, shrugging, but the casualty to his voice sounded a little too forced to be natural.

TJ stopped dead in his tracks. ”Wait, really?” 

”Yeah…?” Marty frowned in confusion.

”I love Six Feet Under!” TJ exclaimed.

Marty gaped in surprise ”Really?!” 

”Yeah!”

”No way, bro! I watched it with my mom all the time when I was younger!”

”Same! Well, with… yeah” TJ trailed off. It had been one of the shows he had watched with Reed and Lester, and more, mostly for the death, but TJ, secretly, had found himself enjoying the dramatic aspect of the show. It had become quite a guilty pleasure during the following years, and he kept the show close at heart.

”This is so cool! I’ve never met anyone who even knows about it! Buffy keeps calling me a nerd whenever I bring it up…”

”It’s dope dude. She doesn’t know what she’s missing!” 

”I know right!” Marty rolled his eyes. ”I keep telling her, if you give it a chance you might like it, but nope. Nothing” he complained, in that exasperated tone you’d only really achieve after a couple of years into a relationship. 

”Her loss, really” 

”Yeah, you’re right! Man this is great, I’ve only had my mom before who… gets it, you know? This is awesome”

TJ smiled.

”Yeah, it is”

They stayed on the Six Feet Under topic for a while after that, and TJ wasn’t sure if it was because of their burning passion for the series, or if it simply was because they were afraid to drop the subject just to find themselves at loss for anything else to talk about.

TJ found himself agreeing with Marty on several points he was making. The Marty next to him now was hard to believe to be the same as the one he’d met at the lockers a while ago, but he quite enjoyed his company, even if it so far was quite a shallow one.

Just as they were about to head into the intricacies of running a funeral home, TJ and Marty ran into a person TJ preferably wanted to never see again.

Principal Metcalf. 

”Mister Kippen!” He addressed him in his formal manner, dressed in his tweed suit and the same, manufactured smile on his face. He stepped into the light with long steps and hands behind his back, like he had been waiting for someone to come by that he could bust. His eyes were grim. He moved his gaze over to Marty. ”…”

”Marty, sir!” Marty said, resembling a soldier saluting their officer. The only thing missing was the hand on the forehead. 

”…Marty” Metcalf said dismissively, name already forgotten. ”What are you two doing in the hallway in the middle of class?” 

”I could ask you the same” TJ said quietly, and was rewarded a cold smile from Metcalf. Marty gave him a horrified look. He didn’t care, he hadn’t forgotten about his sunglasses, and the headache that came with the lack of them sure didn’t let him forget either. 

”We have a hall pass!” Marty said defensively. 

”Of course you do” Metcalf said, and TJ got the feeling he would roll his eyes if he wasn’t so disgustingly formal. ”What for?” He asked, biting every word off. 

”TJ wasn’t feeling well in class, so he needed to get out for a while” Marty explained, with and overlaying urgency to everything he said, like if he wasn’t quick enough Metcalf would dismiss his excuses like an officer dismissing his soldier. TJ nodded beside him, knowing he’d say something dumb, something purposefully aggravating, if he spoke. 

”Why aren’t you at the nurse’s office, then?” 

”We were cutting up dead frogs and TJ wasn’t a fan of that” Marty said earnestly, nervously, and at this point TJ felt it was time for him to stop talking.

”I just needed some air” He said, hoping Marty would take the hint and quiet down.

Metcalf looked at TJ with a face TJ couldn’t quite read, the closest word he could use to describe it as was knowing which was very unnerving. He didn’t like anyone knowing him. TJ stared back defiantly, but could feel himself falter in his stance. Metcalf then looked back at Marty, cracking up in a smile again, a gesture usually good-natured but it didn’t feel at all reassuring, quite the opposite. TJ hadn’t felt threatened by a smile before. 

”Shouldn’t you take a break outside then? This school had a great ventilation system, I’ve made sure myself, but nothing beats the fresh air outside” Metcalf said and TJ could’ve sworn he looked almost mischievous as he said it. That man had an agenda, TJ was sure of it. 

”We would’ve if someone hadn’t banned sunglasses” TJ said sharply, glaring at him. Marty looked between the two of them in confusion.

Metcalf chuckled and TJ wanted to dropkick him. Oh, how badly he wished he knew how to do that. 

”Well then” he said, rather forcefully. He checked his wristwatch. ”You boys should get back to class, I’m sure the… frog-cutting is over by now” he said, restrained, like he found even the word disgusting. 

”I’m sure it is” TJ said, smiling with gritted teeth. 

”We should get back” Marty sensed the tension between TJ and the principal and was quick to divert the attention. For a moment, TJ was glad he was there. ”Have a nice day” Marty then told Metcalf, making TJ immediately regret his previous statement. 

Metcalf nodded and turned away, walking away for them. As soon as he turned the corner Marty let out a breath.

”That dude is scary as hell, I don’t know how he does it” he said, eyes fixed on the corner he had just disappeared around. 

”Yeah” TJ agreed. Had it not been for him being TJ’s acclaimed enemy, TJ would’ve been fascinated by Metcalf’s ability to make every statement he made sound (ominous) cold and emotionless. ”I don’t like him”

Marty shrugged. ”I’m undecided” they started walking back to the classroom. ”Did you know Buffy and Jonah once saw him getting tattooed?”

”Really?” TJ said, surprised. He couldn’t even imagine, not under that tweed suit. To be fair, he also didn’t want to. 

”He has like a bunch of them, apparently” Marty said. ”A whole sleeve”

”Hmm. It’s hard to imagine” TJ said. He didn’t like how unpredictable Metcalf was. 

Marty laughed. ”I’m still not sure I believe them. Buffy also thinks he might be a vampire, and I’m still not sure if she’s serious or not”

Oh?

Oh. 

He couldn’t be. No way.

Could he?

Metcalf? Don’t be ridiculous. 

But…

”That’s ridiculous” TJ said jokingly, shaking his head, subconsciously trying to throw Marty off. ”Where is his cape? His eyeliner?”

”The must have vampire fashion items?” Marty laughed. 

”He’s missing the essentials” TJ said. 

Marty nodded seriously. ”You’re right. I’ll tell Buffy her theory has been disproven” 

TJ smiled. Maybe one day they could be friends. Or they could’ve maybe if TJ hadn’t been wearing a metaphorical cape and eyeliner. 

He didn’t have friends, he reminded himself. 

Only Cyrus was the exception to that rule.

***

Cyrus was waiting for his friend TJ outside of school. 

It was a sunny day as usual in Shadyside, normally appreciated but now Cyrus felt bad for his friend. The burn-in-the-sun, vampire friend. The cool one, the one who soon exited the school in a hoodie and sunglasses. 

And… with Marty?

Cyrus would lie if he said he wasn’t surprised to see Marty and TJ together. As far as friendships go, that one was unexpected. Then again, when he thought about it any friendship involving TJ was unexpected. Including his own. Especially his own. 

And yeah, sure, his heart did pound a little harder as he spotted them, sure, but if anyone was good at pushing his feelings aside… well it wasn’t Cyrus but still, he had other things to think about. 

Like how TJ’s face lit up in a smile as soon as he saw Cyrus across the yard.

Nope, that’s not it either. 

”Waiting for someone?” Said a voice next to him, so suddenly interrupting him in his thoughts it made him jump. 

Buffy was so silent in her movements, Cyrus could’ve sworn she was the vampire sometimes. And no, he wasn’t paying attention to his surroundings as he was distracted. Still, give a guy a warning, will you?

”Waiting for someone? Psh, I don’t know what you’re talking about” Cyrus exclaimed like the mere thought of it was preposterous. He smiled.

Buffy laughed and elbowed him in the side. ”So you hanging here has nothing to do with him walking there?” She said teasingly, nodding towards TJ and Marty.

”I could ask you the same” Cyrus said, elbowing her back. He really wished it would be as simple as that, them teasing each other about unadmitted crushes, and no one was unbeknownst the mortal enemy of another.

”We’re only going through game strategy” Buffy said as if the mere idea of anything else was preposterous. 

”I thought your team was in great shape?” Cyrus raised his eyebrows. 

”That was before Kaitlyn broke her nose though”

”She broke her nose?!” Cyrus had completely forgot to get an update of Katelyn’s state after being hit in the face by the basketball Buffy threw. He didn’t think it was that serious. 

”It’s only a fracture” Buffy waved her hand dismissively, but her face was shameful.

”That’s the same thing” 

”Broken sounds worse”

”…true”

”So yeah, now she can’t play and I need a new strategy” she said, nodding towards Marty, who were almost by them at that point. ”That’s where he comes in”

”That’s where who comes in?” Marty asked as he had just been in range to hear the last part of their conversation. 

”You” Buffy said simply. ”I was telling Cyrus about how we need a new game strategy now when Katelyn’s out” 

”Oh yeah! So I’ve been thinking about that…” 

Buffy and Marty departed, too engulfed in their own conversation to remember to say goodbye. Cyrus and TJ watched them walk away, Marty sneakingly draping a shoulder over Buffy’s shoulders and Buffy sneakingly leaning into the touch. Cyrus could laugh at their oblivious obviousness.

He smiled after them. He was sure they really just wanted an excuse to hang out with each other.

Buffy and Marty were soon out of sight and then… And then that was it. TJ’s and Buffy’s first meeting since after Cyrus found out about TJ being a vampire had gone by effortlessly painless, so much so it barely counted as a meeting, to no real surprise. Cyrus had just expected worse, like always.

He turned to TJ.

”Hi” he said, feeling a sudden flash of shyness.

”Hi” TJ smiled back, voice soft. 

”Shall we go?” Cyrus wondered. 

”Sure” TJ said. ”Where?” 

”I want to show you something” Cyrus said, knowing already where he was taking TJ. TJ smiled widely, making Cyrus’ heart flutter. ”Is that ok?”

”Of course” TJ said without a beat. 

They walked towards the woods, together, silent. Cyrus wanted to ask why TJ and Marty was hanging out, out of sheer curiosity, but he didn’t want to put any pressure on a potentially new friendship by asking defining question at the start. 

So instead he stayed silent, just enjoying the company. 

He could feel himself tense as they came closer to the edge of the woods, the very same woods where Cyrus had met the bullies only a couple days earlier. 

He had chosen the place himself, knowing it meant revisiting some not very old memories. He felt a little uneasy, but at the same time he missed the underlying sense of fear he had felt walking through the woods ever since that night Andi, Buffy and he had been scared by what most likely had been a harmless wild animal. After Friday, the mere thought of going through those woods again felt unrealistic. 

It felt different. It felt like a different place all together, the same decor but a different vibe. 

After Friday the existence of vampires had also felt unrealistic. As well as the bullies ever being scared of him. Realism wasn’t really something to go after anymore. 

Him and TJ walked close, closer than most people would. Cyrus didn’t even notice it at first, it was just the way it was. It didn’t feel unnatural, if anything walking away, taking a step back would feel out of place. 

Occasionally their hands would brush together, and Cyrus’ heart would skip a beat. He could feel TJ flinch, not out of discomfort simply out of the sheer impulse that touching was bad and meant danger, but soon relax and keep his hand in place.

The sun shone through the thick tree tops and as a sun ray hit his cheek and TJ’s cold hand brushed by his once again, he found himself asking; 

”do you ever miss it?”

”Miss what?” TJ asked.

”Being human?”

TJ smiled bitterly. ”All the time” 

”Really?” Cyrus said sadly.

”Of course, but… you get used to it”

Cyrus smiled. ”I’m sure there are a lot of perks as well”

”Well….” TJ thought about it.”I never have to pee” he said after a moment.

Cyrus bust out in surprised laughter. ”Wait, really?”

”Yeah, the toilet at my place hasn’t been used once, fun fact” TJ grinned.”Not since I got the place at least"

”See, there you go! Focus on the positives!” Cyrus exclaimed, smiling widely. 

TJ’s expression formed into a teasing smile. ”I will also never have to try your baby tater-milkshake combo”

”Hey!” Cyrus said, fake-offendend. Then he chuckled. ”…I was about to say ’don’t knock it until you try it’ but I guess that doesn’t really apply here”

”And for that I am thankful” TJ said. 

Cyrus remembered their first conversation warmly, but he also remembered the abrupt stop it had taken. He furrowed his eyebrows thinking of it. ”Why did you leave that day?” He asked, unsure if TJ would know what he meant. ”The first day, you left in a rush”

TJ looked guilty all of a sudden, despite trying to hide it. He didn’t say anything for a while, to the point where Cyrus felt bad for asking, feeling like he stepped over the line. Just as he was about to brush it off, laugh it off, anything, TJ opened his mouth.

”I got scared I think” he admitted. 

Cyrus was taken aback by his confession. ”Of what?” 

”You” he said. He stopped walking, and Cyrus stopped too, facing him, feeling the air stop between the two of them. TJ had his hands shoved his pockets and looked away, out to the trees, the grass, the path, lost in it all for a moment. With a lower voice he said, ”Or more the concept of you, I guess”

”That’s… oddly poetic” Cyrus said, barely daring to breathe. There were birds chirping around them, wind blowing through the tree tops, but it all felt just like an afterthought. ”What does it mean though?” 

TJ looked at Cyrus behind his sunglasses and for a moment he seemed lost in thought. He cleared his throat and started walking again. Cyrus followed him closely. 

”I just… haven’t had any friends since I was in the clan because it felt dangerous… If I got to know people, they got to know me. And then they really got to know me, you know? And that can’t happen. Well at least I thought it couldn’t happen” he gave Cyrus a small smile.

Cyrus found himself at a loss of words. TJ was honest. He was so honest. He was so honest and Cyrus couldn’t think of a single thing to give back. 

”Maybe some people aren’t as bad as you’d think” he said, feeling like a cliche, like a phony. 

”I’ve realized” TJ said, smiling softly at Cyrus. Cyrus could feel his cheeks redden. 

TJ sighed and looked out over the woods they were walking through. ”Some are though. You know?”

Cyrus got a bitter taste in his mouth, suddenly reminded of how badly his last travel through the woods had ended. Suddenly reminded of how some people are as bad as you think. Some people surprise you even. 

”I know” he said, feeling the urge to change the subject. ”What about your friends in your clan? Do you still talk?” 

”No” TJ sighed. ”They weren’t really fans of me leaving”

”Were they mad?” Cyrus asked feeling childish over the fear he couldn’t keep out of his voice. 

”I think so? I didn’t really tell them” TJ said, almost ashamed. He pushed his sunglasses further up his nose. 

”As in you ran away?” Cyrus asked. 

”Pretty much, yeah” TJ shrugged. 

”Do you miss them?” 

”Yes… and no” he scratched the side of his head. ”I mean of course I miss having friends… like me” He glanced at Cyrus when he said it. ”But in the end, they did things I didn’t agree with and I’m glad I left”

Cyrus had a strong urge to say ’I’m glad you left too’ but stopped himself. He was TJ’s first human friend, he reminded himself, the first friend for years. It was too early to get weirdly affectionate and scare TJ away. 

Instead he said, 

”It can be really hard, admitting you have different opinions like that and that you work better apart” he said, feeling therapist-Cyrus struggling below the surface, desperate to break out and give a full on session. He pushed him down. 

And ignored how close to home his own words really were in his situation. Surely, him and Buffy wouldn’t part ways over this, the vampire thing, there wasn’t a reality in Cyrus’ mind where him and Buffy weren’t friends.

Cyrus didn’t want to think about that but thankfully they had reached their destination… ish. They had reached a natural change of subject. 

”It’s in here” Cyrus said, nodding towards a small path leading away from the bigger one, into tighter knit part of the woods. 

”You know, there are very few people I’d follow down that path” TJ stated. 

”Am I one of them?” 

TJ didn’t answer, instead he walked past Cyrus down on the smaller path. ”Come on”

Cyrus smiled widely. He was one of the people. 

They didn’t have to go far down the path to reach the place Cyrus wanted to show TJ; only just get out of sight from the main road going through what looked like denser forest, but was quick to open up to a small glade. TJ stopped, taking in the sight before him and Cyrus watched him expectantly.

In front of them was an old gazebo, completely overgrown by plants, overshadowed by trees. Cyrus’ dad had showed it to him when he was younger, telling him that the gazebo had been there since he could remember, and that the place was secret, only special people could see it. Cyrus had later realized his dad had only said so to make the place seem more interesting for the bored six year old he had with him, but he had kept the place to himself for years. Not even Andi or Buffy had known about it, although he had figured the place wouldn’t be of much interest for them either way. 

”Wow” TJ uttered softly. 

Cyrus had felt he could take TJ there. He had felt he should take TJ there. To give him some of his place too. Maybe even show him a place in Shadyside that was actually shady. 

”Can you get inside?” 

Cyrus smirked. ”Follow me” 

He went around it, founding the small entrance that seemed to be smaller and smaller each time, due to the growing nature around it, and ducked to get inside. The inside of the gazebo wasn’t the nicest, ever since Cyrus could remember the wooden fence and the ceiling had been filled with text, the curses of some, the treasure of some. There were the ”Tamara was here”’s, The ”Will is GAY”’s, the incoherent drawings and of course, the ”J+M”’s, including the, until now unthought about, ”T+C” that had meant nothing to Cyrus before but now, entering with TJ close behind, played a completely different role in the small space inside the gazebo. 

The light was dim inside, it was dark enough to feel wrapped away from the world for a moment, but not dark enough to hide the facial features of his friend and the writings all over the place. There hadn’t been any new writings for years that Cyrus could see, making the place feel forgotten in quite a melancholic way. 

He really appreciated as the elegant trash it was. 

TJ was quiet as he looked around. After a moment he took of this sunglasses slowly, blinking to adjust to the light. Cyrus caught himself looking at him; partly expectantly for a reaction, partly in awe. TJ had held his head down, shielding himself from the sun, sunglasses and hood on. Now he took down his hood, revealing his gelled up hair and he looked around the place completely unhidden. 

”What is this place?” TJ said after a while, quietly. He reached out and touched the a vine hanging down from the ceiling, slowly following it with his hand. 

”It’s an old, overgrown gazebo” Cyrus said matter-of-factly. 

”Oh I didn’t notice” TJ said sarcastically, but he was smiling. They made eye contact, first time since TJ took off his sunglasses and for a moment Cyrus was reminded of how they looked, suddenly, strongly. In reality, he could never forget those eyes. 

”My dad showed me this place ages ago” Cyrus forcefully looked away, letting his eyes wander over the scribbles covering the wooden fence surrounding most of the gazebo. His eyes landed on the text ’We’re all children of the night’, pondering it’s newer meaning. 

”It’s really cool” TJ said. He stepped forward and the floorboards creaked under his shoe.

”You think?” Cyrus asked earnestly. He hadn’t been nervous to show TJ the place per se, but hearing him approve of it meant a lot more than he’d thought it would. 

”Yeah” TJ breathed softly. He looked at Cyrus, smiling. ”Thank you for showing it to me”

Cyrus shrugged but his cheeks were burning, he hoped the redness couldn’t be seen through the dim lighting inside the gazebo, but he had no idea what TJ’s vampirism did to his senses. Maybe he had enhanced sight, like a superhero. ”No problem” he said, fake-pretend casualty coming of incredibly forced.

They stayed quiet for a moment. After a while Cyrus could hear TJ scoff, saying;

”Did you plan that or something?”

And for a split second Cyrus was gripped by the fear of TJ pointing to the ”T+C” written on the wood (which he, upon further inspection, later realized most likely was a badly written ”T+G”, and he honestly didn’t know if he had read it wrong out of fear/hope or if the person behind the text had just done that bad of a job) he almost rushed out a badly planned excuse, before realizing what TJ was pointing to in reality, and let out a laugh.

”Save animals, eat humans instead” he read out loud. That text had been there for ages, Cyrus had forgotten about it up until this point but had always a laugh when he was reminded. ”That is 100% a coincidence”

”Hmm maybe my old clan mates was on to something” TJ joked, not taking his eyes away from the text. 

”They never tried the… vegetarian thing?” Cyrus asked hesitantly, unsure if TJ wanted to talk about it, not wanting to step over any boarders. 

”No” TJ chuckled. ”They laughed when I presented the idea and I… never did it again” his smile faltered at the end.

”Really?” 

”I get it though” TJ confessed. Cyrus frowned, mind clouded by the unfairness of that statement. ”They were all born vampires, so they didn’t understand” He laughed hollowly. ”I guess even among vampires I still didn’t fit in”

”TJ…” Cyrus said softly, wanting to comfort him or do anything to get the sadness out of his voice, but had no idea how to do so. 

”I think I, at some level, tried to be human again… That’s why I did it, not to be a good person or to get some kind of.. moral high ground… I was delusional, trying to hold on to something that’s gone”

Cyrus didn’t know what to do so he, without thinking much about it beforehand, reached out and grabbed TJ’s hand and gave it a slight squeeze. The coldness was a small surprise despite having previously experienced it, but there was also a small sense of familiarity to the touch, like a warm memory attached to a cold hand. Literally. 

TJ looked at their hands, turning his head in a quick movement, but it didn’t take long before his expression softened and he squeezed back, barely noticeable but Cyrus swore he could feel it. 

”You’re not delusional” Cyrus said with a shaky voice but steady gaze. TJ met his eyes and Cyrus could see the ghost of a smile in his face. ”You’re more human than you think” 

TJ sighed. ”I’m sorry for dumping all this on you…” he thought about it for a moment. ”I don’t know why I did that. I’m not usually one to… talk about things…” he shook his head, smiling. ”What have you done to me?” He joked. 

Cyrus grinned. ”It’s a gift” 

They were still holding hands. But they were gonna ignore that for now. 

”So…” TJ looked around. ”Do you come here often?” 

”Not as much anymore” Cyrus admitted. ”I almost… I almost forgot about it” he realized. ”It used to be like ’my place’ for a while, but then everything else came in between”

”So no one else knows about it?” TJ asked. 

”No. Well…” Cyrus looked around over the wood cluttered with writings, indicating the many people that knew about the place. ”Yeah. But I haven’t told anyone else”

”…Except me?”

”Except you” 

”…”

”…”

”Do you have a pen?”

”What?” 

”Well” TJ gestured to the writings. ”Everyone else has felt obligated to inform people that they ’was here’” he did air quotes to further underline his comment on the writings ”We should too. You never wrote anything in here?” 

”No” Cyrus felt lame all of a sudden. ”I always saw it as vandalism”

TJ scoffed. ”Dude” he said, gesturing around. It was hard finding a place inside the gazebo that didn’t already have ink on it. Cyrus figured one more sentence couldn’t hurt.

”Yeah, you’re right” Cyrus nodded, feeling the rush of adrenaline. ”Between you and me, I am known to have sort of a rebel side”

TJ smiled widely. ”I wouldn’t doubt that for a second”

Cyrus, rather reluctantly, let go of TJ’s hand, feeling the cold absence of it ironically enough, to dig though his bag in search of a pen. He soon found one and fished it out. 

”So… what should we write?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok ok ok so ok wait ok so ok so listen; its been a while. Actually it hasn’t, it’s been like a month which is pretty standard for me (remember when I said I’d try to update once a week? Talk about zero self awareness lmao) but like... A LOT has happened since then. Tyrus is confirmed? Andi Mack is over? Joshua Rush is bi? I dyed my hair? (That one is personal but still, exciting!) It’s kind of hard to fathom. Well I’m still in denial. What stage of grief are you in? Write in the comments! Give me a thumbs up! Subscribe! Click the notification bell for- ok I’ll stop. That’s a youtube joke if someone doesn’t get it. Nothing is funnier than explaining yourself after making the most basic reference, isn’t it? ANYWAYS I still think the show isn’t really over? It’ll live on in forms like this; fan fiction, for example, or other art, edits and like a bunch of other ways PEOPLE ARE SO CREATIVE! And the impact it has made on a lot of people, me included, is not something that’s gonna go away for a long time. SO lets not be sad? Or lets, bc that’s ok too? It lives on, and there's still a lot of chapters left of this as well to look forward to (?). Thing is, if you look at my predicted amount of chapters I'd be like "We're halfway through!!!" but I can tell you already that.... lmao no. THis chapter alone was supposed to be an additonal scene but I decided to cut it as it fits better in the next chapter but like also... this chapter would never see the light of day if I would've written one more part to it. So yeah, I think I'm up to twelve chapters by now but there might be more... translation; this is gonna take a while to finish. BUT I am determined to do it so, well... look forward to that? It is very late I must say, I am very tired. Usually I'm like very very very paranoid about the chapters I post and I read through them like way too many times to comb for mistakes (and still probably miss a hella lot) but this chapter has been laying on my computer for days literally just not finished. Like there has been one small part left, stopping everything. So now, again, very tired (I am the biology teacher, duh?) so Imma just upload, you get me. I have read through it multiple times, don'tget me wrong but... whatever. LMAO. What is life, really? ANYWAYS. THANK YOU FOR READING. pls keep leaving kudos and comments if you like, it means a lot to me! If you wanna write to me personally, my tumblr is still @ professional-that-guy ... CHEERS!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I am” Cyrus quickly reassured him. ”I will NOT let the teeth of a duck tarnish my reputation” 
> 
> ”It’ll be our secret” TJ felt himself winking. Winking. He’s winking. He’s out of control, oh my. Cyrus pretended not to see, but his cheeks turned pink. TJ felt the place where his heart was flutter in his chest. He’d only ever wink from now on if he could.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi. Hello. Auf Wiedersehen. Nevermind, I think that's goodbye. This is hi. Hello. uhm. Yeah. It's been a while.
> 
> This chapter, and the next chapter, was originally supposed to be ONE SCENE at the end of the last chapter. Instead now it's turned into two separate chapters, since them together currently are at 12 k words and not even done yet. So yeah, i decided to split them into two, and the next should be coming relatively soon seeing as a big chunk of it is already written. 
> 
> I think that's all I had to say. As usual, more at the end. Sorry for taking so long!
> 
> And thank you for reading! Feel free to comment and so on, it really means a lot! Enjoy!

Sometimes Cyrus was thankful for his athletic inability. 

Most of the time when he thought about it, it was with a bitter taste in his mouth. He’d envy Buffy and Marty and even Jonah at times because they’d never break their thumb trying to skateboard or feel like dying after walking two sets of stairs. 

He had, at times, imagined having a career in maybe some kind of sport, knowing it would never ever happen, and let himself disappear in the world of being an athlete, someone not bound by the fallible physicality of life. He was sure there must be some sport in which he could still be ”the first openly gay [insert sport] player to compete in [insert big sport competition]” and go down in history in that way. It seemed easy enough if life had dealt him the right cards. 

But as he was leaned against a wall, watching Andi on Buffy’s shoulders, wobblingly trying to reach the top corner of the big wall mural to start off their painting adventure, Cyrus didn’t think athletic inability was really a bad thing. Having almost failed PE a couple of years back meant that no one now asked him to do any heavy lifting, meaning he didn’t have to try and balance on someone else’s shoulders or even worse, carry someone on his. He was fine as a supporting character watching from the sidelines, not as a supporting character in the sense of supporting someone’s full body weight on his, what he would himself describe as, frail shoulders. 

”Higher… higher… higher… Perfect!” Andi said, expression deeply concentrated, eyes fixed on the paintbrush she was holding in her hand. 

”Are you serious?” Buffy groaned. She was straining, having been forced to freeze in an uncomfortable position.

The plastic ponchos they were both dressed in rustled as they tried to move in sync by the wall-mural. Cyrus had brought ponchos for all of them, figuring no one else would think of protecting their clothes. He was right.

He had also brought shower caps, just in case. Neither Andi or Buffy had seen the appeal of wearing one.

”Yes… hold it… hold it… hold i-”

”I got it! I won’t move” Buffy said, seconds before misstepping and as she grappled to maintain her balance, she lowered both her and Andi by an inch as well as to the right, graciously leaving a line on the wall as the paintbrush Andi was holding sunk with them.

”Ahhh shi-” 

”Maybe we should get a ladder or something?” Cyrus suggested. He pushed himself off the wall in an attempt to pretend to be helpful. He was struck by a brilliant idea. ”Or one of those chair things people use to clean windows on really high buildings!” 

”I think they’re called baskets” Buffy let Andi down from the shoulders with a grunt. She glanced up at the school building’s wall that at best could be described as ’tall’, and not at all fit for something hanging from the top. ”Yeah, unless you know something I don’t, I don’t think that’s going to work” 

I know something you don’t, Cyrus brain answered automatically. The guilt that he had grown a little too familiar with over the past few weeks washed over him at once. Already he had been close to blurting out everything he knew to her, about vampires, about TJ, about how she hadn’t been wrong, but every time he had managed to stop himself, this time no exception. 

”Nope, I guess you’re right” he said quickly. ”It wouldn’t work”

He fought the feeling, repressing it, pretending to not know it’s origin. Feelings that couldn’t be explained couldn’t be blamed on him either. 

He was a liar. 

Andi looked at the misplaced white line that the paintbrush had left running down the wall with a bitter look on her face and said, ”We couldn’t get a ladder”

The whole mural was supposed to be white, to start with a base, but the line had broken out of the box and was now on the slim part of the wall that wasn’t supposed to be painted, staring tauntingly at them against dark brick wall. 

”Marty said he’d bring chairs though, so that’s always something” Buffy said, trying to sound positive. ”He’ll be here any minute now” 

Andi sighed. ”Then we’ll wait I guess”

They were just going to ignore the white line for now. And maybe forever. 

Cyrus looked at the mural again. He had walked past it more times than he could count but had never given it the thought to really analyze it. The more he stared at it, the weirder it got. 

The angles had… teeth? Pointy one at that, not to mention the red eyes and wicked expressions on their painted faces. They were wearing nightgowns that might have been white at some point but was now sporting a depressing shade of grey, their feet had no form but was merely limbs hanging out from under the garment, and some of them were holding hands, alternatively hand wrestling, there was no way to tell. 

It was a thing of nightmares. Andi had said that it was of dreams or nightmares, for the viewer to decide, and Cyrus had quickly chosen the latter, unable to see how anyone could look at it without even the slightest amount of dread. 

Andi had explained how she found the ambiguity in the artwork fascinating and wanted to do something that captured the essence of the first painting.

Cyrus had no idea what that even meant, but he was just there as a human tool either way, there to paint whatever Andi pointed at. He wasn’t one to get in the way of her vision. 

”What if…” Buffy started, squinting her eyes at the painting. She had about as much intuition about this kind of stuff as Cyrus. She tilted her head. ”If you look at it this way it looks kinda like dogs” 

Cyrus mirrored her with the head tilting and the squinting. He didn’t see it. ”How?” 

”There’s the tail…” she gestured vaguely ”then the nose… and the paws…”

Cyrus stared in silence for a minute. Finally he admitted, ”I don’t see it” 

”I guess you don’t have” she paused for dramatic effect ”…’the vision’” she said, widening her eyes, as if it was something special or sacred. She made an ”ooo” sound, for spooky effect. 

”Oh I can’t believe this” Cyrus said, filling his voice to the brink with dramatic sadness. ”How will I ever recover from this tragedy?” 

Buffy put on her most pitying pity face on. ”It’ll take time, but you’ll get there. We’ll be there for you every step of the way” she raised her closed fist as an act if solidarity. Cyrus could feel laughter bubbling in his throat. ”Won’t we, Andi?”  
”Huh?” Andi looked up. She hadn’t been listening. She looked between them and it didn’t take her long to pick up the tone of their conversation. Her expression transformed into one of feigned certainty. ”Uh, yeah. Of course. Duh!” She leaned over to Buffy and asked in a low, yet loud enough for Cyrus to hear, voice ”Why are we there for him?”

Buffy burst out laughing. So did Cyrus, almost simultaneously, like on cue. Andi looked confused for a second but then she joined in as well, letting the laughter flow within the close-knit group. 

”We should’ve started a survey before repainting” Cyrus said between fits of laughter. ”What do you think of this painting? And what it is it depicting?” 

”And let the students answer?” Andi said. ”Oh, that’d be interesting!” She said, sounding almost disappointing she hadn’t thought of it before. 

Buffy rolled her eyes, still smiling. ”You know that no one would answer seriously… If you want a display of immaturity, ask high schoolers about art” 

Andi was quiet for a moment, wearing her thinking face. She came to a decision inside her own head and fished out her own phone.

”We’ll see” she said stubbornly, taking a picture of the mural. 

”…are you making a survey?” Buffy asked. 

”Mhm” Andi nodded, writing on her phone furiously, concentration spread on her face and lip between her teeth.

Buffy shot Cyrus a look of amusement, and Cyrus laughed quietly at the mere thought of what ever replies Andi got on her survey would include. 

”Aaaand…. sent!” Andi said, a second before Cyrus felt his phone buzz in his pocket. 

”The results will be both terrifying and exciting” Buffy stated. 

”And they will shock you” Cyrus added in his most commercial voice, making the others laugh. 

”Yeah, and…” Buffy trailed off, distracted by something behind Cyrus. 

Cyrus and Andi turned around, both curious to see what was so absurd it made Buffy completely forget what she was saying. Cyrus stomach dropped as he saw the two figures walking past them. 

He could sense Buffy coming up beside him and puff out her chest to look intimidating, and Andi take a step closer him, offering silent support. 

But just like last time the bullies, the ones that had tormented Cyrus for a long time, the ones that had threatened him in the woods and then been threatened by TJ, walked right past them, not daring to even cast them a glance. 

Cyrus could feel his heart pounding in his chest, feeling powerful and very small at the same time. His mouth felt dry. The air stood still.

The three of them stared at the bullies until they had left view. It was very clear they wouldn’t do anything, even if TJ hadn’t scared them they wouldn’t have done anything with Andi and Buffy there, but none of them dared to look away until they knew for sure. After everything, the unexpected was to be expected. 

The mood had shifted.

”I still don’t get… what happened?” Buffy said, turning back to Cyrus. 

”I don’t know either” he lied, and at once the overwhelming feeling of guilt washed over him. He felt nauseated. 

”It’s so weird. Like one day they just started avoiding you?” Buffy said, annoyed at the unknowing. ”It doesn’t make sense. Something must’ve happened”

”I’m glad they did though” Cyrus said weakly. He still hadn’t asked what TJ had done exactly to scare them the way he had. He delayed doing it all the time because he wasn’t sure he wanted the answer. He also, desperately, wanted them to change the subject. 

Buffy’s face softened. ”Me too. Of course!" 

”That’s the important part” Andi agreed. ”The reason is only like… a sub concern” 

Buffy nodded. ”I just want to know who did it so I can thank them” she joked, probably. 

Oh, the irony, Cyrus thought, wanting to laugh out of bitterness. There was no way he could tell Buffy who did it without also exchanging wanting to ”thank” with ”assassinate”, especially with all the follow up questions the revelation would prompt. 

He shrugged, signaling how he didn’t want to talk about it anymore. He didn’t want to talk about it because he knew the reason and he lied about not doing so. He didn’t want to talk about it because he didn’t want to think about it, about them, when he could enjoy the day with his friends instead. 

”I met Amber’s dad yesterday” Andi said casually, sensing the want for a change of subject and complying, whilst dragging her hand over the wall, feeling the surface. She said it like any fact, the way you’d say ’I ate broccoli for lunch’, which admittedly wasn’t the most common sentence but still required some thoughts before noticing the oddness of the statement, but both Buffy and Cyrus knew what she had announced was bigger than casual. Both of their heads snapped up and in one voice they said,

”What?!” 

They looked at each other, surprised, then back at Andi.

Andi had mentioned before being scared of meeting Amber’s parents, solely based off of their house and how cold and dark Andi had experienced it as. This hadn’t really shocked Cyrus, based on who Amber had been when they first met her, cold and attached. He was glad to see her change and proud to be part of it. Then again, meeting the parents of one’s girlfriend was quite frightening in and of itself, no matter what the interior of their house looked like. 

”Really?” Buffy said, this time on her own accord. ”That’s quite the step” 

”Mhm” Andi nodded, eyes still focused on the mural. At this point she was doing it to avoid eye contact, which wasn’t a good sign. 

”How did it go?” Cyrus asked in that voice he managed to achieve sometimes, a hesitant mix of curiosity and concern, a tone fit for a bunch of different responses with different emotional charges.

”Good” Andi said and nodded to convince herself it was true. Her expression slowly went sour. ”At first… Then not so much” 

Buffy and Cyrus exchanged a look. They were standing on each side of Andi, watching at her intently whilst she pointedly looked at neither of them. Upon closer look, Cyrus could see her eyes were distant, mind most likely bitterly going through the events of whatever had happened. 

”What happened?” Buffy asked, voice grave and expression compassionate. She already knew the answer, not the event but the outcome. 

”We really got along” Andi tore her eyes away from the wall to look at Buffy, then Cyrus. ”I made a joke about horses and he laughed. Out loud.” She continued, putting emphasis on the last part. Cyrus nodded, impressed. 

”Then what?” 

”I don’t even remember how, but Amber’s mom came up in conversation and he went all dark and.. bitter” Andi sighed. ”His answers got all… snappy… and short”

”How?” Buffy asked. 

”Like… ok, like you know when you meet someone you haven’t met in a while? And you’re catching up and it’s a great time but then you bring up like an old argument or something you had like ages ago and you joke about it because you think ’oh that’s such a long time ago, they must be over it by now’, but then it turns out they’re not and it gets all awkward and… bad?” 

Cyrus and Buffy nodded. 

”It was like that” Andi said. ”Only I have no idea what I said wrong, he just got this like dark look on his face” she tried to replicate it, only coming off as moody and not quite succeeding, ”and was not at all in the mood to converse anymore” 

”Just like that?” Cyrus asked, shuttering at the bare thought of going through that. He needed to be liked the way a hammer shark needed to keep swimming to not drown.

Andi nodded, pursing her lips. ”Amber assured me that it wasn’t a big deal and that it was a ’sensitive topic’” she did finger quotes, ”but I still feel bad. Like, I should’ve known” 

”You couldn’t have!” Cyrus said. 

”If anything, Amber should’ve told you before” Buffy said, frowning. ”Like ’here’s this piece of information that could really help you, do not bring up the mom!’” She moved her hands as she spoke. Her face said ’Duh!’. 

”I mean…” Cyrus started, somewhat shaking. He was feeling himself losing balance. ”If someone tells me not to talk about something, that’s all I can think of then” he argued. ”Sometimes it’s better to not say anything and hope for it to not come up? Right?”

”Still…” Buffy pondered for a moment. ”If you have information that could help someone, you should always tell them, right? To avoid situations like this one I mean”

”Right…” Cyrus said, feeling his throat closing up. 

”It wasn’t like planned or anything though” Andi said, not noticing how Cyrus had paled. Buffy’s eyes dragged on Cyrus before she looked at Andi. ”I was just stopping by at her house and he happened to be there”

”What a nice surprise” Buffy said sarcastically. ”That truly is the ideal way to meet your partner’s parent”

”It did take away a lot of the nerves actually” Andi said, thinking to herself. ”Like I didn’t really have time to think about it. Until afterwards, that is”

”I can see that” Cyrus nodded. He had never gotten the chance to meet the parent of a significant other, but he could imagine both options as difficult. 

Buffy got an idea. ”I know! When she meets your family, wait till she brings up the mom thing to Cece and then you’re even” 

She laid it out like it was the greatest plan ever. 

Cyrus wasn’t sure she was joking. ”You know, you both impress and terrify me” he said. 

”It’s what I do” Buffy shrugged, grinning proudly. 

”This isn’t about revenge, you know that right?” Andi said slowly, smiling of amusement and disbelief.

Buffy faltered in her stance, ”Yeah… I knew that” she said, brushing it off. 

”But it is proof of how easy it is to mis-step, though” Cyrus said, quickly. ”Don’t beat yourself up over it”

Buffy nodded. ”See. This is why Cyrus and I are the thinkers of this group” she said. 

Andi laughed. ”And what am I?” 

Cyrus and Buffy both looked at each other. ”The artist” they said, in unison. 

They all laughed. 

A couple of weeks had passed since revelations of all different kinds had happened, and ignoring the heavy guilt slowly eating him inside, Cyrus quite enjoyed his time of being alive.

He enjoyed hanging around TJ; it felt nice and natural if he ignored the butterflies that erupted in his stomach every time TJ smiled. 

He enjoyed hanging with his other friends too, even though he kept them and TJ separate for the most part. It wasn’t on purpose, they just seemed to never merge and Cyrus wasn’t actively working for that to happen either. 

He hadn’t missed the knowing looks and teasing smiles Andi and Buffy kept giving him whenever he mentioned TJ, mostly because they had made sure he saw them. They thought they were in on a secret. Cyrus was keeping a completely different secret. Well, maybe not completely different, their secret looks weren’t completely unbased. 

Buffy hadn’t brought up the topic of belief - or lack there of - in vampires since the day she told them about her conflicting feelings, and Cyrus hadn’t brought it up either. He knew she hadn’t forgotten about them, he knew the despite his efforts to get her thinking about other things it probably was what clouded her mind at most times. 

But he couldn’t help but leave it be. Usually he’d urge her to talk to him about it, and he still did just more vague without mentioning any specifics. But as selfish as it sounded, Buffy not talking about the existence of vampire made it much easier for Cyrus to pretend his relationship to TJ was as normal as his relationship to his other friends. 

The shared secret brought them closer, despite Cyrus not wanting to admit how special, how great that felt. He wasn’t usually anyone’s ”only person who knows about this other than me”-person and it was like being given an important job, being chosen for something top secret.

He liked feeling important.

So yeah, things were running pretty smoothly. 

Too smoothly, of course. 

There had been dark clouds on the horizon for quite some time now and Cyrus chosen to ignore them. Metaphorical clouds, of course, Shadyside was as sunny as ever. 

He knew the world as it was at the moment - the perfect balance between two worlds - was about to implode any day, but he desperately held a tight grip of the small piece of peace he had managed to grasp. 

Maybe the balance was perfect because it was just that; a balance. And maybe Cyrus should’ve known that. And maybe when Andi wrote in the good hair crew + Jonah group chat (Jonah had once wondered what about his hair was not good enough to be considered Good, to which he had gotten the response that it was more complicated than that but he was a honorary member);

ANDI  
Good news! Everything’s in order and we should be able to paint the wall on Friday! I have everything I just need help to do it… Amber is coming as well but Buffy could you ask Marty and Cyrus maybe you can ask Tj? :)

And Jonah wrote

JONAH  
Good job Andiman!

And Buffy wrote 

BUFFY  
Sounds good! Will ask AMrty!

BUFFY  
*Marty

BUFFY  
Damn… autocorrect?

And Cyrus, quite nervously despite his best efforts to hide it from himself, typed down 

CYRUS  
Great! I’ll ask TJ :)

And pressed send, he should’ve known that that was the moment of imploding was upon them all and merging the worlds wasn’t balance, it was chaos. 

And maybe he did know. 

But he asked TJ anyways. 

***

TJ was nervous.

He had finally gotten used to hanging with Cyrus, gotten used to having a friend. Cyrus still made him nervous but for different reasons. Good reasons. 

Still. He disliked at the fact that every time he got comfortable someone would change something and suddenly there was a whole new bundle of things to get used to. 

Example: Painting a wall with Cyrus’ friends. 

Even better example: Painting a wall with Cyrus’ friends, including the one vampire hunter amongst the bunch. 

He kept his hood down when approaching the group of friends despite being outside, albeit in the shadows, on a sunny afternoon in Shadyside. It was taking one additional step out of his very small, yet expanding, comfort zone, but he had the strong need to appear as friendly as possible, to make a better impression than his first one. 

TJ couldn’t help but notice how he was the first one to arrive outside of the core three, the good hair crew as Cyrus once jokingly, or not so jokingly TJ wasn’t sure, had referred to them as, and he took that piece of information in with a bit of bitterness. The three of them had such a natural dynamic and flow and TJ didn’t enjoy being the first to come from the outside and break it. 

They were all dressed in plastic capes as well, which was both humorous and worrying. 

He had hoped to make eye contact with Cyrus before anyone else, but as he rounded the corner and came into view he found a Cyrus and an Andi very invested in something on the wall they were about to paint and Buffy, who were standing a bit away from them by a temporary table, of course, was the one who first saw him as he arrived to the scene. 

He took off his sunglasses, squinting. 

Buffy slowly lowered her phone and cast a glance at Andi, who was by the looks of it explaining her vision, and Cyrus, who were intently listening, squinting, imagining the finished product before his eyes. 

TJ felt himself smile a little bit. 

Buffy pursed her lips in an awkward smile and waved even more awkwardly and TJ was just about to regret coming in the first place when she said,

”Hey” 

Causing the other two to look up. 

”Teej!” Cyrus exclaimed, face lighting up and any regret TJ almost felt was gone in an instant. He could feel himself stopping a content sigh on instinct, as the more and more familiar bubble of simmering happiness expanded in his chest.

”Hi TJ” Andi said from beside Cyrus, sporting a friendly smile. TJ nodded back. It usually took a while for words to work. ”Glad you could make it” she added politely. 

A silence settled. 

It didn’t take him long to feel uncomfortable in his position; around Cyrus he never felt not comfortable, but with the addition of Andi and Buffy and what would soon be Jonah, Amber and Marty he assumed, it was starting to itch in his fingertips. He could feel his shoulders tensing, his jaw clenching. 

Cyrus was smiling still. TJ was sure he could sense the stiff atmosphere, but kept the excitement to his expression. He met Cyrus’ eyes and couldn’t help but smile back. The one thing about the situation that felt familiar was that smile and TJ would stick to it until he was forced to look away. 

Buffy went over to Andi and draped an arm over her shoulders. ”Tell me that horse joke you told Amber’s dad”

Andi looked confused at first but after one pointed look from Buffy she said, 

”Oh! So, there was a horse…” their voices faded in the background as Buffy dragged Andi away. TJ had to admit he was curious about the punchline, but that suddenly felt unimportant as Cyrus made his way over to him.  
”Hi” he said, smiling. He raised his fist and Cyrus raised his and they bumped knuckles, a small gesture, something the common man wouldn’t think twice about, but it did sorta, kinda meant the world to TJ; it made him feel like the common man who wouldn’t this twice about it. 

Of course he couldn’t do it to anyone else. He had thought about that, if he were to ever get his regular, or his human at least, body temperature back, he’d just walk around bumping knuckles with people. High fiving them. Maybe one or two chest bumps. Maybe even a hug-

He couldn’t though. He wouldn’t. He’d never be the common man. He was doomed to think twice about everything.

”How are you?” He asked Cyrus. Cyrus beamed at the question. 

”I’m good! Excited to finally see the end of that painting” he threw a glance over his shoulder and shuddered.  
”Yeah… what is that?” TJ asked, amused at the sight before him. He hadn’t really noticed the painting before, only walked past it a handful of times and never really paid attention to it. 

”You tell me”

”Are those… birds?” TJ tilted his head. ”With teeth?”

”Birds?” Cyrus looked at him in disbelief. ”I’m pretty sure those are angels” 

”I think I know what angels look like” TJ said confidently. 

”Since when do birds have teeth?” 

”Since always! Have you not seen that picture of the duck with the teeth on its tongue? It’s horrifying” 

”… I don’t think that’s real”

TJ fished out his phone and did a quick google search. Triumphantly he showed the screen to Cyrus. ”See?”

Cyrus looked equal parts fascinated and distraught.

”I can’t believe this” he said, gaping at the picture.

”I thought you were the animal expert” TJ said teasingly. 

”I am” Cyrus quickly reassured him. ”I will NOT let the teeth of a duck tarnish my reputation” 

”It’ll be our secret” TJ felt himself winking. Winking. He’s winking. He’s out of control, oh my. Cyrus pretended not to see, but his cheeks turned pink. TJ felt the place where his heart was flutter in his chest. He’d only ever wink from now on if he could. 

”Hey, I checked out that list of plants you-” he started, excited to tell Cyrus about his latest purchase, a plant called Steve, but was, to his disappointment and immediate annoyance, interrupted,

”Six feet under!” Someone shouted from behind, directly addressing him. It took him a moment to register the words, and then TJ’s stomach dropped, for a moment convinced it’s someone who’s figured out his identity and was now taunting his deadness out loud in front of everyone. 

He spun around.

Marty was grinning without any malice and TJ immediately felt the relief wash over him, at once reminded of the conversation they had a couple of weeks ago. He should’ve known, Marty didn’t seem to have a passive aggressive bone in his body. 

”Ey” he grinned, greeting Marty as he made his way to where him and Cyrus were standing.

Of course, relief was soon replaced horror as he heard Cyrus repeat behind him, 

”Six feet under?” In confusion.

”Uhhh” TJ hadn’t told Cyrus about it and hadn’t really planned to do so either, he didn’t for a second want Cyrus to think he was lame.

To his demise, Marty did not pick up on his hesitation to tell Cyrus and said with a big grin, ”TJ watches Six Feet Under!” 

”Wait what?” Buffy had shifted her focus back onto them at Marty’s appearance, and was now sporting a look of both disbelief and smugness. 

”I…” TJ started but he had nothing to say to his defense. Denying it was a disservice to both him but mostly Marty, who he actually had gotten to like during the passed few weeks. ”Yeah” he muttered.

”I told you it was a good show” Marty said, aimed at Buffy. Buffy looked at him, then back at TJ again. She had a thoughtful expression on her face that TJ didn’t like, like she was reevaluating her impression of him.

”Whatever” Buffy said. Her opinion on the subject had been challenged. ”Thanks for the chairs”

She passed TJ and Cyrus and went up to Marty, who had been carrying chairs with him. Buffy said something to him quietly and he answered, making her laugh. 

Cyrus turned to TJ.

”Six feet under, huh?” He said, looking at him with smiling eyes, seemingly satisfied with the new information he had been given.

”He wasn’t supposed to tell you that” TJ said, but at once it didn’t feel so bad anymore. 

”It’s fine. I’m sure it’s a good show!” Cyrus said encouragingly. 

”It is!” TJ geeked out. ”I mean.. yeah, it’s alright I guess”

Cyrus laughed like it was the funniest thing ever. TJ could feel himself beaming. 

Buffy and Marty pushed past them, Buffy now carrying one of the chairs. 

”Let’s start” she said to them without turning around, her voice was already on the brink of mild annoyance. It didn’t bother TJ though because she said it in the way you’d say ’you two’ and roll your eyes fondly, and the implications of that action did the opposite of bother him. His stomach felt warm. 

He nudged Cyrus in the side lightly and Cyrus flashed him a smile, the kind that could’ve knocked him off his feet if he was in movement. 

”Come on” he said, feeling his face burn despite not being physically able to blush, voice slightly shaky and he hoped Cyrus wouldn’t notice. 

Buffy placed the chair with the backrest towards the painted wall and backed away, and Marty did the same almost at the exact same time. It was two of those foldable metal chairs with fabric on the seat, not ideal for standing purposes, but good enough one supposed.

Buffy glanced at TJ, quickly and had it not been for him already looking at her he’d have missed it. Maybe his presence made her as uneasy as hers did to him, either way he could tell she felt the need to keep track of him. He didn’t really blame her, he had come off pretty aggressive when they’d met the first and only time, but it still didn’t help with the stress the situation itself was inducing. 

”Okay everyone, listen up!” Andi said with more authority than TJ had imagined she was capable of. They were all gathered in a half circle with Andi in front of the wall. She raised her hand. ”We’re going to start with painting over the old” she said and gestured to the mural ”…thing”

”Where are Amber and Jonah?” Marty asked. ”Are they not coming?” 

”They are, but we’ll start without them” Andi explained. 

”Aww but you waited for me?” Marty cooed jokingly. ”How sweet” Andi’s eyes immediately drifted to Buffy, expecting her to answer.

”We waited for the chairs, really” Buffy said without fail, playful touch to her voice.

”That’s a nice excuse you got there” Marty grinned, looking smug. Buffy rolled her eyes and pushed him lightly. 

TJ leaned over to Cyrus and whispered, ”Are they always like this?” 

”Pretty much” he giggled. ”It’ll be interesting to see what they’ll be like when they’re married”

TJ laughed silently at the confidence of Cyrus’ statement. He liked the idea of some people just being destined to be together. The question being not ”if” but ”when”.

His joy was quickly exchanged for dread as Andi called out,

”Buffy!” 

then to his dismay followed it up by 

”TJ!” 

addressing them both, and only them

”You’re the tallest, I need you to paint the top together”

she ordered and he realized he was paired up with the enemy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Listen, yeah, I know it's been a while. If i'd been an animal, I'd be an irrelephant. Haha, so original. Ok, but like for me, I think about this story ALL THE TIME seeing as I am writing it and so on, but I'm sure people that aren't writing it forgets in between. SO yeah, here's a nice little reminder? Yay! This story keeps getting longer and longer. I originally said ten episodes and planned those out, but like... nah man it's gonna be more. But that's fun. I think I'll try and make the chapters shorted from now on so that it doesn't take so much time and I can update more! We'll see. I'm gonna stop making promises bc I never keep them. And that's not good. Hey, fun fact! When I wrote the texts (which always feels kinda awkward for me to do bc how do people text? I forget?) Buffy wrote AMrty instead of Marty bc I kept doing that ALL THE TIME. Like there's more Marty in the next chapter and everytime his name came up in text I would write AMrty instead. Idk. OK that was like a mildly interesting fact, but still. It's kinda fun. But then again I've accidentally written Buddy instead of Buffy and once I wrote Buggy and laughed for like way too long. It's really not that funny. ... ...Buggy... haha. That's probably a name in Australia. Next to like... Sturt... and Babe. Haha Sturt. I'm sorry Australia. The land down under. Actually. Ever since they got permanently invited to Eurovision they're an honorary member of Europe and as a European that means I'm allowed to make fun. Yes. That is how it works. I miss eurovision. It's like on week every year and it's the best week. ANYWAYS. RIght. SO yeah, the next chapter will involve more painting fun. I'm actually thinking of calling it Chapter 6.5 because that's pretty much what it is. It's a continuation of this chapter. Uh painting, yes, thing is I've painted rooms before. I've painted walls, I painted a big freaking wooded skeleton building for a play I was in and it was hell... point is, I've painted before, I'm familiar with the process, but just as this story, the rules of the universe aren't really the same as in our universe. It's like; Vampire's exist and the way we paint is slightly different. Those are the differences. AND blood is still fresh and not at all ruined by sitting in a refrigerator in a milk carton for a while. I realised this a while ago that that doesn't make sense, but in thsi universe it does. OK? OK. Vampire's, painting and blood in refrigerators. Those are the only things that are different. Yes. ANYWAYS. Thank you so much for reading and thank you to everyone who's left comments and kudos it really means a lot and it makes me like unbearably happy. See you next chapter! Auf Wiedersehen!


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TJ didn’t know what to do. Was he supposed to smile? Did the others smile? He knew the lore, he knew people thought vampires didn’t show up in pictures, and he had tested it a bunch of times just to make sure it wasn’t true. What if he was wrong? Oh god, what if he didn’t show up in the picture? What if there was an empty space between Buffy and Amber and everyone would know? 
> 
> ”Ready?” Andi asked.
> 
> TJ wasn’t ready.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, look who's updating only about a week after the last update.... Very out of character, we like it!
> 
> As I mentioned last time, this is more of a continuation of the last chapter than a stand alone chapter, not only that but I decided to split the remainder of the chapter into two AGAIN. So yeah, this is more like chapter 6.2 and then the next would be 6.3, but I'll name them seven and eight to not confuse... myself mostly. 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! Enjoy!

TJ looked at Andi for a second too long, trying to covey with his eyes that it was a bad idea to pair him up with Buffy, then at Cyrus for a second too long trying to get him to help him get out of the task, and Cyrus did look a little nervous himself but otherwise unable to do anything about it. Then he looked at Marty who was grinning encouragingly. 

He avoided Buffy’s eyes until he had gone through every single other person there, and when he finally looked at her he could see she looked as displeased with the grouping as he felt. 

”Marty’s taller than me” Buffy protested. ”Why not him?”

”He’s also terrified of heights” Marty answered in Andi’s place. ”You know that” he added, sounding hurt. 

”Right…” she said. TJ momentarily wondered how someone could be afraid of heights to the point of not being able to stand on a chair, but didn’t have time to think too much about it before Buffy called out, 

”Let’s go” reluctantly as Andi instructed Cyrus and Marty, and headed over to the desk where all painting supplies had been put. TJ followed her, feeling annoyance growing within.

They didn’t say anything to each other because there was nothing to say. TJ wasn’t a small talk kind of guy and Buffy wasn’t making any efforts. In a way TJ thought it might be better that way; the cold silence to prefer over failed attempts to catch some kind of warmth that didn’t exist. He could appreciate the lack of false nice in it all. 

She slid a silver bracelet off her wrist and put it on the side of the desk without any paint cans. 

”We have protective ponchos over there” she pointed to a bag resting against the desk leg. ”They’re biodegradable” 

TJ looked over to the bag. Seeing as everyone was wearing them he’d feel more dumb not doing so and getting paint all over him. In some way the ponchos had a uniting effect to them, even if the feeling wasn’t there completely at least they looked like a team. 

He took one out of the bag and pulled it over his head. The big piece of plastic made him feel less agile which he sort of despised, and it took him a while to find the exit hole for his head, but once set inside he no choice but to admit defeat.

Buffy grabbed a paint can and handed it to TJ, and grabbed two rollers and trays and walked back to the wall without a word, expecting TJ to follow. Begrudgingly, TJ did so. 

Their task was simple: paint the top half of the mural.

Their teamwork left something to be desired; the first five minutes in complete silence whilst improvising some kind of coordination around each other to make it as effective as possible, silence then broken by the two of them ramming their rollers together as a result of aiming to paint the same spot. This was followed by five minutes of mumbled instructions.

This was all quickly interrupted by Buffy gasping, holding up her arm with a dot of white paint visible on the red shirtsleeve, consequentially the only part of her clothing not covered by the protective plastic. 

”hey! Watch it” she snarled, staring at TJ accusingly. TJ immediately went into defense mode. 

”I didn’t do that” he said, feeling all the porcupine spikes rising on his back. ”Watch it yourself!” 

Buffy did a sudden movement, turning to say something, and at the sudden motion gravity did it’s thing and some superfluous paint flew off her roller, through the air and landed swiftly on TJ’s cheek. It wasn’t a lot but Buffy still stopped abruptly, mouth still open, words resting on her tongue, and stared at the spot with wide eyes, expression taken over by shock. 

TJ raised his hand slowly and touched his cheek to wipe of the paint, eyes still stuck on Buffy’s face. It wasn’t meant to be threatening, only amazement of how Buffy was seemingly completely disarmed by her own fault. 

It was… amusing. 

TJ didn’t even feel it coming, one second he was staring at Buffy with widened eyes, the next he was shaking, trying to hold in the laughter erupting in his throat. 

Buffy stared at his attempts to hold back laughter for a moment before loosing the battle herself and burst into giggles. 

”I’m sorry” she said, smiling. ”I didn’t mean to do that” 

”It’s fine” TJ said, and he truly meant it. 

They kept painting in silence, but now lighter, less tense. TJ had escaped the feeling that their whole set up was one mistake from exploding. The mistake had happened and the crisis had been averted. 

”What do you think it’s supposed to be?” Buffy asked after a while, gesturing to the wall. 

TJ wasn’t expecting the question, hadn’t expected a question at all, and it took him a moment to arrange his thoughts for an answer. ”I said birds earlier, and Cyrus did not agree at. all.”

”Birds?” Buffy asked in disbelief. She looked at the wall again, and furrowed her brows. ”You know what? I think I kind of know what you mean” 

”Right?” TJ surprised himself with excitement. ”With the wings… and the beak and… crows feet”

”Yeah, I can totally see it!” Buffy looked amazed. 

TJ looked surprised. ”Really?”

Buffy nodded. ”I’m as surprised as you are” 

”What are we doing with it?” TJ asked, without planning to do so. ”What are we going to paint once this is… covered?”

Buffy shook her head. ”I don’t know really. This is Andi’s project, we just follow her instructions” 

TJ looked over to where Andi was standing, telling instructions to Marty and Cyrus. Just as he looked over, Cyrus’ face transformed into one of shock, before he burst out laughing. TJ felt himself smiling, feeling the warmth inside he had grown familiar to the passing weeks. 

He tore his eyes away and turned back to where he was painting. He met Buffy’s eyes. She was smiling, knowingly. 

”What?” He asked, voice gaining an edge to it. 

”Nothing” she said innocently. She then grinned. 

TJ rolled his eyes, feeling his cheeks heat up. 

”Let’s just keep painting” he said, still seeing Buffy’s smile in the corner of his eye. 

She shrugged and they kept going, slowly and thoroughly covering the old mural with white paint. TJ found himself quite enjoying the slow paced, repetitive motions, falling into an almost meditative state.

Soon, Andi, Marty and Cyrus joined them and it quickly got crowded around the wall. Paint splattering everywhere, areas that weren’t supposed to be white were made white, a paint can spilled on the ground and at one point an area that had just been painted was repainted in the same color. 

At last it seemed as if they’d actually managed to do it. The wall was arguably even, in a white shade, paint was splattered on the ground as well as outside the mural on the plain brick wall but everyone choose to not see that. 

”Well, isn’t this a beauty?” In the midst of everything, Amber and Jonah had arrived undetected. Amber eyed the sight in front of her with a wide smile. 

”Hey!” Andi, who had been on the verge of calling the whole thing off due to the absolute clustered mess that was the project at the moment, exclaimed the greeting like it was the last thing that could keep her grounded, and made her way over to where Amber and Jonah had arrived. ”You made it!” 

”And we brought reinforcements!” Jonah said, holding up a bag of snacks, as Andi greeted Amber with a kiss and then him with a hug. 

”I take back every slightly mean thing I’ve ever said about you ever” Buffy shouted from where she was balancing on the soft seat of her chair. 

”Only slightly?” Jonah questioned. 

”You probably deserved the other stuff” Buffy waved her hand dismissively. 

”Lets take a break, yeah?” Cyrus said. He was crouching, just done with the bottom corner, and his voice came out a little strained as he spoke. ”My knees are hurting” 

”A break sounds great” Andi said, leaning on Amber with the tired expression of someone trying to lead an art project with seven people involved. 

TJ didn’t think a break sounded great. Painting, working with a task, that was something to be occupied with. A break meant standing around, not knowing what to do or say. He put the roller in the tray and stuck his hands in his pockets, feeling the urge to pull up his hood but not wanting to send that strong of a message of how uncomfortable he felt.

The rest of the group went over to Amber and Jonah to greet them, and TJ stuck to the background. He felt like a distant cousin at a family dinner, kinda supposed to be there but also not really a part of the family in the same way as the rest.

Once she had gone through everyone else, Amber looked directly at him, cocked her head and said ”Hey”, greeting him cooly. He raised his hand in a waving gesture, touching his forehead slightly like a sailor and she smiled. Beside her, Jonah nodded to him and mouthed a ”hi”, TJ nodded back, and then he somehow was done with greeting them and didn’t have to join the rest of the group in their chatter and handshakes and whatever it was they were doing. 

He felt as if he had dodged a bullet. 

Buffy eyed the wall. ”I think we’ve done a great job” she stated, then looked around at the others. ”Don’t you?” 

”Absolutely!” Andi said quickly. ”I just want to take this moment, actually, to thank you all for coming and helping. It means a lot!” 

”Of course” Cyrus said, squeezing her shoulder. ”We’re happy to help!” 

There was a murmur of agreement coming from everyone, including Jonah and Amber who so far had done the bare minimum, but TJ stayed quiet because he missed the cue.

”Did you get any answers on the survey?” Buffy asked curiously, chewing a cookie she had gotten from the bag Jonah and Amber had brought with them, directed at Andi. 

TJ couldn’t help but ask

”Survey?”

At the same time as Marty asked, 

”Survey?” 

They looked at each other and snorted with laughter. 

”I sent out a survey earlier via the school mail about what people thought the mural was supposed to be” Andi explained. ”Do you not check your mail?” She then asked.

”No” Marty and TJ said, again in unison. 

Once again they looked at each other and snorted. Across from them, Buffy and Cyrus shared a look and laughed, shaking their heads. At once, TJ felt a little more like a part of the group. 

Andi pulled up her phone, scrolling through the results. She sighed. 

”You were right, Buffy, these are mostly people trying to be funny” She raised her eyebrows. ”Wow, people at this school are immature… And also very uncreative”

”Lemme see” Buffy said, leaning over to see the screen. 

Amber, who was standing on Andi’s other side peered down at the screen as well. ”I like that one” she said, pointing. 

”What?” Marty said curiously. He went over, followed soon by Jonah and soon the group were all collected around the phone except for TJ and Cyrus. 

Cyrus came up beside him, watching the others flock around Andi. TJ could feel him very present by his side.

”Not curious?” TJ asked, glancing at Cyrus and then back to the others, scared if he looked at him for too log he’d get stuck like that. 

”I know all the immature high schoolers can be, I don’t need to see it in text” Cyrus said, laughing quietly. ”Also, I can look at it later”

”Yeah, high schoolers are the worst” TJ said, speaking both from experience but also a distaste for people in general.

”…You do realize that you’re a high schooler too, right?” Cyrus said, smiling amusedly. 

TJ was quiet for a moment. It made Cyrus laugh. He caught himself thinking that maybe painting a wall with a group of awkward almost-friends was worth it as long as he got to hear that laugh. ”…only technically”

”…That makes little to no sense, but somehow I get it” Cyrus said, after considering it for a moment. 

They looked at each other. Laughed. TJ forgot why he was uncomfortable in the first place.

Only momentarily though. All the new people were overwhelming and when Andi announced ”I want a picture for instagram! Like a before and after thing” TJ was faced with a choice, one he hadn’t taken into account before. He hadn’t shown his face online, ever. Didn’t have an instagram, hadn’t participated in one before. He’d never really been given a reason to up until this moment. 

The choice was quickly made for him as Andi instructed everyone where they were supposed to stand for the most pleasing outcome, and he quickly found himself standing in front of the wall, Buffy on one side and Amber on the other. 

Andi set up the camera on the desk with a little help from Jonah, set of the timer without telling Jonah, ran back to the wall, Jonah then tried to do he same thing without being ready and had only reached them but not his position next to Cyrus, nor had he turned around, when the flash went off and the picture was taken. 

There was a collective groan coming from all of them, no one had been ready and either way Jonah had ruined it and there would have to be a second picture taken. 

TJ didn’t know what to do. Was he supposed to smile? Did the others smile? He knew the lore, he knew people thought vampires didn’t show up in pictures, and he had tested it a bunch of times just to make sure it wasn’t true. What if he was wrong? Oh god, what if he didn’t show up in the picture? What if there was an empty space between Buffy and Amber and everyone would know? 

”Ready?” Andi asked.

TJ wasn’t ready. 

”Ok, everyone say… mural!”

”Muuuural” the rest of them echoed but TJ felt the word get stuck in his throat. He didn’t have time to think of his expression before the flash went off and the unmistakable sound of a picture being taken could be heard. 

As soon as the picture was taken, the formation they had taken by the wall was abandoned and everyone rushed forward to see the outcome. TJ lingered, not knowing what was really waiting for him. 

”I really like it, look at that smile!” Amber said and pointed Andi in the cheek. Andi scrunched up her nose and blushed. 

”Stop it” she said, but she was smiling. 

”Stop being so cute and I will” Amber said, and Andi booped the tip of her nose with her finger before leaning in for a kiss. 

”Oooookay” Buffy said, taking the phone from Andi without a fight as she was otherwise occupied and turned the screen around. ”It is a really nice picture” she said. 

TJ leaned forward, daring to look at it. If Buffy said it was nice there was probably nothing to worry about, right?

Very well, his expression in the picture might not be the happiest but it was a neutral cool that he usually sported as his everyday expression. 

At once he felt calm again. Calmer at least. 

Cyrus smiled at him. He felt a different kind of nervous. 

He smiled back. It was a good kind of nervous. 

”I’ll tag everyone” Andi said, retrieving her phone. ”TJ, what’s your instagram handle?”

”I don’t have one” he said, not thinking much of it. 

The silence that followed was so… quiet. Everything stopped. He felt six pairs of eyes stare at him, like he had turned green or just announced that he was, in fact, The Easter Bunny, alive and real. They looked at him like they had just found out he was a vampire.

”What?” He asked, feeling the hostility gain an edge to his voice. 

”Nothing” Andi assured quickly. ”It’s just unusual that’s all. But totally cool though!”

”Yeah, totally! Refuse the system!” Jonah said, trying to sound encouraging but failing with the execution.   
”I’m… anti establishment, so…” TJ explained vaguely.

”Rad” 

”mhm”

The silence fell again. TJ felt both ”crisis averted” and ”they’re on to me, crap, crap, crap” but mostly he just felt… tired. There was a small area between too friendly and too hostile he was wandering around and he kept stepping outside the bounds, saying something suspicious or misleading. 

Andi saved him, announcing that someone needed to go back to the art classroom and wash the rollers before they dried, and he volunteered quickly, earning confused glances from the rest of the group. He wasn’t sure if he was supposed to take offense to the fact that none of them saw him as the ”cleaning type”.

Andi lit up, surprised smile on her face as she said, ”Great! Who else? We need more than one, there are a lot of rollers”

Cyrus looked like he was about to step up, when Marty exclaimed, ”I’ll do it!”, which was even more shocking and confusing than TJ doing so. 

”Really?” Andi said in disbelief. She quickly caught herself and smiled. ”I mean, great!”

Marty flashed TJ a grin. Then he looked back at Andi, expression tinted with worry.

”Wait, we’ll switch right?” He asked nervously. 

Andi laughed. ”Yes. Of course we’ll switch” she reassured. 

Marty looked relieved and nodded.

”You know where the art room is, right?” 

TJ knew. Cyrus had shown him. They had talked about it. TJ remembered. He remembered. 

Marty also knew, because he nodded and caught the keys that were thrown to him. 

TJ felt relieved leaving the group. It hadn’t been that bad, not really, at some point he had almost felt as if he was part of it himself. Still, there was this tenseness that wouldn’t let go when he was around them, the feeling of having to watch your every move to not slip up and incriminate yourself. The feeling of having a secret that would ruin everything if it got out. The feeling of not being that person they thought you were. 

Once they were out of earshot, Marty said very casually,

”So… I saw you and Buffy talk earlier”

”Yeah…” TJ said slowly, afraid where he was going with this. He had only known Marty for a couple of weeks and silently prayed he wasn’t the ’jealous’ type. He had made a sorta kinda maybe friend and didn’t want that to go up in flames, not that fast. 

”Did she…” he looked nervous. ”Did she mention me by any chance?” 

TJ laughed out of relief. Marty looked at him hopeful, by the look on his face TJ realized he had underestimated the seriousness behind his question. ”Um, no, sorry dude”

”Okay” Marty said, trying to hide his disappointment. ”Cool”

”But we didn’t talk much at all actually” TJ said quickly, not good at the reassuring thing humans did. He tried to access his empathy resources he was sure he possessed somewhere. ”It was a very short conversation. Barely anything was said” 

Marty nodded, but he looked a little lighter. 

TJ was silent for a moment, contemplating if he was going to be THAT friend. He closed his eyes for a moment, collected himself and asked,

”Have you tried talking to her about it?”

Marty frowned as they made it to the entrance of the school, and pushed through the big glass doors. ”About what?” 

”Why…” TJ felt painfully awkward ”you want her to talk about you?”

”No, wouldn’t that be weird?” Marty stopped walking, clearly not getting what TJ was trying to ask.  
TJ stopped too. ”I mean… maybe not those exact words, but….” He gestured vaguely. ”You get what I’m saying”

”I don’t” Marty said, but TJ suspected he did. He just didn’t want to be the one who said it. 

He sighed, growing frustrated. It shouldn’t be this hard, actually. ”Have you told her you like her?” 

”Pffft whaaaaat?” Marty tried, but gave up a second later, expression turning desperate. ”No, I haven’t. I should, shouldn’t I? I should. Maybe I shouldn’t” He started walking again, hurriedly. TJ followed him with rushed steps. ”Like, if she doesn’t feel the same way like… fine, but it’ll be awkward? And I don’t want things to change you know? But to live my whole life not knowing? That’s the real torture, bro. Like sometimes I feel like I should tell her just because, you know? Then I’ll know at least. And as painful as it’ll be, if she doesn’t, feel the same way that is, then at least I’ll be done and I can move on”

TJ felt as if he was holding a cup under the tap and a barrel worth amount of water spilled out. He had no idea how to even take in all this information that was suddenly dropped on him, much less how to give an appropriate response. 

When he waited a little too long with his response, Marty said,

”I’m sorry, dude. I didn’t mean to drop all this on you. It’s just going round and round and round in my head, I feel like I’m gonna explode” he mimicked an explosion with his hands. 

”I feel you” TJ said, immediately regretting his words, hoping he didn’t get any follow up questions. When Marty looked curious, he quickly said, ”You know there’s the possibility she likes you too, right?”

They stopped outside the art classroom door. Marty took out the keychain and started searching for the right key absentmindedly.

”Oh, but if I start imaging that scenario and it doesn’t happen… bro I can’t do that. It’s better to be happily surprised than let down, right?” 

He fished out the right key, opened the door and let TJ inside the cool room before following him. The door fell closed behind them, and TJ’s senses were immediately overridden by the scent of paint and crayon.

”I guess…” TJ said, surprised at the pessimistic view from someone who until now seemed to think everything was awesome. ”Yeah… I get that”

He followed Marty to the sinks at the side of the classroom, so covered in paint the metal was almost completely unsighted. Everything about this room was… chaotic. 

”What about you?” Marty asked, turning on the tap in one of the sinks and pulled out a roller from the bag of rollers they had brought with them. 

TJ froze. ”What about me?” 

”Do you have someone you want to confess something to?” He lit up ”We could do it at the same time!” 

TJ laughed awkwardly. ”No. I don’t think I do” he said, lying but at this point so little of his life was public, he didn’t even know what exactly he was lying about. He took at roller out and started washing it under the running tap. 

Marty looked like he didn’t believe him, but didn’t push it. 

TJ, who just felt grateful for not being pushed to talk about something he didn’t want to talk about, suddenly remembered a certain detail from earlier and couldn’t help to ask about it, 

”Are you really that afraid of heights? Like, chair level afraid” he asked it, regretted it immediately, prepared to take it back when Marty said, 

”Terrified. You have no idea” 

His voice was calm, like he was merely stating a fact not admitting to a fear. 

TJ raised his eyebrows, feeling himself be… impressed? The be so calm and honest about something like that was unheard of in his world, not to mention having such a… human fear. There was a beat of silence. 

”Don’t judge me” Marty said, and spoiled the fact that he wasn’t as calm about is as he came off as being. 

”I’m not!” TJ quickly assured. ”Trust me, we all have weird fears, I get it” 

”Really?” Marty said. ”What are yours?”

”Uh….” TJ’s brain worked feverishly for a fear that couldn’t be directly connected to his vampirism. He remembered their first conversation and said ”Blood”, which wasn’t untrue.

”Riiight” Marty said, nodding. He tapped his temple with his index finger. ”I remember”

Then he made a face because his hands, and now temple, were wet from washing the rollers, and wiped the side of his face with the arm of his shirt.

TJ chuckled awkwardly, feeling like he’d dodged a bullet. Again. ”It’s rough” 

”Did something happen?” Marty asked curiously. The he quickly added, ”You don’t have to tell me of course, I get it” 

”I was hit by a car” TJ said. ”As a kid” he hadn’t planned out how much he was going to say before hand and all the parts of the sentence came out sectioned, ”there was blood and yeah…” he trailed off, eyes focused on the roller in his hand. ”It stuck with me, I guess”

”Really?” Marty said with big eyes. ”You were hit by a car?”

”I was fine” TJ said shortly. In reality he hadn’t been, he had died. And as much as he’d love to see the look on Marty’s face when saying that, he couldn’t. ”But yeah, it wasn’t great” 

”Oh, that really sucks, dude” Marty said with compassion. ”I’m glad you made it out ok”

”What about you?” TJ said, uncomfortable with the amount of human emotions in the room at that moment. He wanted to get the focus away from him. ”How come your fear?”

”Oh” Marty shuttered. ”I was dropped as a baby. Just kidding. I was dropped as a medium sized child and broke my foot. Actually someone might’ve dropped me as a baby as well. Like, I wouldn’t know, of course, I was a baby” 

”…what?” 

”Right. Anyways. So I fell and broke my foot and I was forced to use crutches for six weeks. I felt so… immovable, you know? I hated it. Now I’m terrified to fall… again. I really don’t want to hurt my body, right? And I’m an athlete. That’s a no can do in athlete’s world”

TJ nodded. ”Basket ball, right?”

”No” Marty shook his head. ”I didn’t make the team. Track, mostly”

”Really?” TJ nodded approvingly. Marty grinned. ”That’s cool. I used to do basket ball”

”You did? At your old school?” 

”Something like that” TJ said. More like him, Reed and Lester would play for fun when having time to spare during nights. He was quite good actually, but had never played by the actual rules so what gives. 

”Dude, we have to play some time!” Marty said excitedly.

That’s a great idea, TJ thought, bitter it could never actually happen. Basket ball was a very… touchy sport. ”Totally” 

”We could invite Buffy too I guess” Marty said thoughtfully. ”But she’ll kick both our asses and gloat about it of course, but still. She’s good” he added, voice coated with admiration. 

”Sounds like a plan” TJ said, knowing it’d never happen. 

Marty nodded absentmindedly.

They kept working on the rollers in silence for a while. It didn’t last long before Marty exclaimed,

”This never gets clean, does it? I feel like I’ve been scrubbing for ages”  
”Maybe we’re supposed to use soap or something?” TJ suggested. He looked at the roller he was working on, not seeing much progress on it either. 

”That won’t ruin it?” Marty asked. 

”No! No… No? Will it?”

”I don’t know!” Marty dropped his roller and turned off the water. ”The wrong people are in charge of washing here” he stated, gesturing between the two of them.

TJ lifted his roller and waved it around a little. ”These things should come with an instruction manual or something”

Marty looked at him with wide eyes. ”Right?!”

”…Is everything alright?” 

Neither of them had noticed the door open in the midst of their mild crisis, and turned around as someone entered the room. 

Cyrus’ expression was an amused one spiked with an appropriate amount of worry, in case the issue at hand was really serious and not at all fun as he stood in the door opening. TJ dropped his roller by accident. 

”Hi, uhm, no everything is great” he said, smiling stupidly, fumbling to pick it up again. 

Cyrus raised his eyebrows. 

Marty looked back at TJ, grimaced and said, ”No it isn’t! Cyrus, do you know if you can wash these” he waved his roller a little, ”with soap? We’re afraid we’ll ruin them” 

”Soap?” Cyrus said, looking at Marty. ”Yeah… I think that’s alright”

”Great!” Marty lit up. ”We’ve been given your blessing and now it’s on you if we ruin them forever” he grinned. 

”Sure” Cyrus said, not even attempting to argue with that. ”Actually, Andi sent me here with more brushes. We’re done with the blue details” he held up a couple of brushes, covered in blue paint.

”More brushes?” Marty sighed. 

”You do realize that all brushes have to be washed right?” TJ asked. ”Just making sure”

”Of course” Marty waved him off. ”I just didn’t think I’d wash all of them” 

”That’s what I’m getting at” Cyrus said patiently. ”I was also coming here to switch with someone. Andi thinks we should all take turns washing brushes, and I agree. So I am here to take over… for one of you” 

”Me!” Marty said quickly. He dropped the roller he was working on and shot TJ an apologetic smile. ”Sorry, man”

”It’s fine” TJ said genuinely, really not seeing the loss in getting to spend time in an empty classroom with Cyrus. 

Marty smiled at him like he was doing him a favor. 

TJ smiled back the same. 

”So have fun” Marty said, smile suddenly a little more knowing, a little more devious. ”See you later” 

He raised his hand in a fist. TJ didn’t have time to react. He was looking back at Cyrus, hence being distracted. When Marty got no response he impatiently acted by himself and bumped his fist against TJ’s, the way bros do. 

Dread shot through TJ like an arrow.

The air felt very thick. Like concrete, trying to reclaim the space he was inhibiting, pressing from all sides, trapping him. 

The place Marty’s hand had touched his was on fire, and he could not believe that this had happened twice now since he had gotten to Shadyside. This place was cursed. Or maybe he was. 

Cyrus was staring at them with wide eyes, knowing what had just happened and terrified of what was coming next. 

TJ was frozen in his position, wordless, breathless, actionless, still holding the roller in the air, not daring to let Marty out of sight.

Marty looked at his hand and frowned. 

”You should really check your blood circulation, your hands are cold, dude”

Relief flooded the room, cleared the air. TJ wanted hug Marty, which most definitely would make things considerably worse, and of course he didn’t, but the thought was there. 

”Uhm… yeah, it’s chronic…” he said, technically not lying. He could barely keep the smile off his face. 

”Cool” Marty shrugged, bumped fists with a slightly better prepared Cyrus on his way out and was then long gone. 

Cyrus watched him leave in awe expression before turning back to TJ. 

”Did that just happen?” He asked in disbelief. 

”I think so?” TJ felt shaky. ”I’m still not sure”

They looked at each other. And burst out laughing. There was an absurdity in the situation that couldn’t really be dealt with in any other way, so they laughed, laughed, just laughed for a while. 

Cyrus walked up to him and picked up the roller Marty had left behind. He smiled at TJ. TJ smiled back. Laughed silently. Nudged him with his arm. Cyrus nudged him back, trying to keep the smile off his face and failing miserably.

Shoulder to shoulder, they started working. 

”I was about to tell you earlier” TJ said, after a moment of silence. He had been excited to tell Cyrus and finally got the opportunity to. ”I got one of those plants you showed me”

Cyrus turned to him instantly, face shining up with excitement reflected in a smile and TJ thought he could buy the whole flower shop just to see that smile again. ”You did?”

”Mhm” He nodded, feeling oddly proud. He tried to not notice how close Cyrus’ face was to his and how much he didn’t mind that. ”Thought it could liven up my place a bit”  
”What does it look like?”

”It’s a Dra..gon… plant? No. Wait” He furrowed his eyebrows and tried to picture the word in front of him. ”It starts with Dra- something, I’m sure” 

Cyrus was looking at him with a soft smile, sun shining in his eyes. TJ was slowly melting, just letting it happen until he was merely a puddle. 

”I like Dragon Plant” Cyrus said after a few seconds. ”Sounds very.. cool”

”The dragon plant Steve” TJ nodded. ”I like it”

”Wait… what did you name it?” Cyrus asked, and TJ realized what he had revealed. 

”…his name is Steve” he said slowly, kinda not wanting to admit it but at this point Cyrus knew way more personal things about him. If there was anyone he wanted to tell about his plant Steve, they were standing next to him at that moment. 

Cyrus nodded. ”Steve” he tasted the name, thought about it, as if it wasn’t a painfully ordinary. After a moment he nodded. 

”You approve?” TJ joked.

”It seems fitting” Cyrus said with a serious expression. ”I’d love to meet him some day” 

”Maybe you will” TJ said and for once he actually believed it. 

They worked in silence, and TJ thought he could get used to that. He felt comfortable, relaxed for the first time that day, mindlessly scrubbing the roller, feeling Cyrus’ presence beside him. 

He wished for it to go on forever.

But their time was limited, any moment now someone else could come and send TJ back to the others, and he needed to ask because he needed to know.

”Are you… worried?” He said, reluctantly breaking the silence. 

”Generally, yes” Cyrus shrugged. He glanced at TJ, curious and careful. ”Why?”

”I mean about Buffy. And about everything, I mean… I am sort of the enemy” TJ said, feeling his words as he said them. He hadn’t wanted to admit before how out of his league he really was, but the words needed to be said out loud. 

Cyrus leaned closer to him, perhaps unknowing he was doing so, and was just about to say something when a presence interrupted him.

The presence of Jonah Beck, standing in the doorway, staring at them. 

”Uh, Andi said I should go and switch with TJ” he said, scratching the back of his head.

It’s fine you don’t have to. Really, don’t. TJ wanted to say it, send Jonah away, continue his conversation with Cyrus, just getting this moment alone, but he-

He had to go back. He had to not be weird, not be suspicious, not be that person who stayed in the art classroom the entire time, not hide from everyone.

The thought of going back to a Cyrus-less group, pretending to know them was not very tempting, but at least he had his friend Marty there and if worst came to worst he’d make an excuse and leave. 

Reluctantly he looked back at Cyrus, reluctantly he put down his roller, reluctantly he went over to where Jonah was still standing in the door opening, reluctantly he looked back at Cyrus again, reluctantly he mumbled ”see you in a while”, rather reluctantly he broke up in a smile as Cyrus cheerily said ”crocodile”, reluctantly, even more so than before, he left the art room and went back outside. 

TJ hadn’t realized how much he hated the outside before. 

He thought for a brief moment, really just a passing second, that it would be pretty easy to just leave now. Instead of making his way back to the others he could just… go. Home maybe, or back to the hidden gazebo Cyrus had shown him or literally any other place than where a bunch of people he didn’t know were painting. 

Shoving his hands in his pockets, he walked back to the painting people.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi. Hello. How you doin'? It's kinda fun actually bc I didn't have that strong of an opinion of Marty in the show, but I really like writing him as a character... I think it's bc he wasn't in the show that much, and there was this big gap without him so if I write him as completely ooc it isn't that bad because.. there wasn't a huge amount of character from the beginning. Idk I did like him in the beginning a lot and how he matched Buffy and their dynamic but OPINION TIME WHAT??? when he came it was kinda disappointing... Mostly due to how he left the show, I always hate it when characters confess they like someone or ask someone out and get turned down and it's like... they can't even be friends anymore? Like... to date someone shouldn't be your only reason to be friends with someone and I get that it can be hard to deal with rejection but.... just not talking to that person anymore is maybe a bit extreme. Idk I've never been rejected bc I've never given myself a chance to be rejected so maybe I shouldn't talk but I still feel like people often act like friendship is the lesser choice when it really doesn't have to be. And like for them doing it in the show makes sense since (I think???) the actor wasn't going to be available as much anymore (He did general hospital, I think? Which I've never heard of before but good for him!) but then when they reintroduced him in the show... they made Buffy apologize? And like it's been a while since I saw the first episode of confessions, but I don't remember Buffy having anything to apologize for anything when all she did was... not reciprocating his feelings. It just wasn't great, and yeah I tried to kinda change it in this fic but we'll see how it goes though... I do like Marty as a character otherwise, he was really funny and shown to be caring which is great! It was just one of my pet peeves I think (still not sure if I'm using that right) when someone can't handle rejection bc I know it's hard and I'm terrified of it to the point where I actively avoid it, but there's always a chance you'll get turned down when confessing and it shouldn't be a deal breaker for a friendship, if that friendship is good enough. Wow man, I honestly didn't know I cared about it this much before I started writing but there we go... ANYWAYS. Thank you for reading and for all the response I've gotten so far, it really means the world. I think next chapter will be faster uploaded, no promises but it's not gonna be super long and I know everything (ish) that's gonna happen so I think so. I think in the future I'll write more but shorter chapters, both to upload more often but also bc I've realised that... when you write shorter there is less to edit. Which is just. Good. So yeah. Thank you for reading ad everything! See you next time hopefully!!


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ”Sounds like someone’s got a cruuuush”
> 
> ”…We’ve covered this already”
> 
> ”I’m not talking about you, Cyrus”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m really excited for y’all to read this chapter! Things are really starting now, the ball is...rolling? In the deep? We could of had it aaaaaaa-Sorry. 
> 
> Couple of things. I’m in this weird grey area of like not wanting things to get too dark and so on but still keeping the stakes high and well… yeah, it’s hard to kinda know where the line is sometimes. That being said there’s like descriptions of pain in this chapter. So that you know. A character will go through some immense pain. Spoiler I guess? Anyways. 
> 
> Also I changed and added some tags. If there’s something I should’ve tagged but haven’t, please tell me so I can do so! SOmetimes the themes of all this go over my head. 
> 
> That’d be all for now. NO wait! Thank you so much for reading, commenting, leaving kudos and just validating me in general. It’s all so appreciated. Hope you enjoy this chapter!

Sometimes Cyrus would imagine himself being interviewed. 

He had figured it was a result of not really having anyone to talk to when growing up. He had people to talk to in theory, and in practice a lot of the times, to the point where the availability felt comical sometimes. 

Andi and Buffy could both be pretty self involved at times, but they were great listeners once he told them he had something to talk about. His parents where licensed therapists, which was both great and terrible when you wanted parental advice. They were good listeners and professional advice givers, but sometimes Cyrus felt like it became a little too professional, and he didn’t like the feeling of being analyzed when really just wanting to rant. 

That, and the fact that he had been carrying secrets since he could remember. When he was in the midst of figuring out his sexuality, he didn’t talk to anyone about it. He turned to his inner interviewer (who also often walked the line between interviewer and therapist, even though acting as your own therapist only solved that much) then, and now when he was once again hiding a big secret, he’d taken to the same methods.

The interviewer was usually faceless, formless and lacking any identifying traits what so ever, only sporting the same generic ”I am your best friend”-attitude of many late night show hosts had mastered and they usually let him rant about stuff for as long time he wanted, usually resulting in him losing track of both time and what he was saying. 

It usually go something like this: 

The host would announce in a booming voice,

”And welcome to the stage, the ever so talented… CYRUS! GOODMAN!” 

And point his arm to where Cyrus entered stage from right, welcomed by exploding applause and cheers from an audience invisible behind the blinding stage lights. 

He’d wave to the audience as he walked on to the well-lit stage, wearing his best, casual outfit and professionally styled hair, holding himself with a humble pride, the way someone would when being loudly, intensely appreciated. He’d shake hands with the interviewer, wave a little more to the audience and once the noise had died down he’d say,

”thank you so much for having me”

with a blinding smile, the one he had perfected in the mirror for as long as he could remember just for this moment, and gain even more cheers. 

”It’s my pleasure,” the interviewer would reassure him. ”Always a joy to have you” 

”Always a joy to be here,” Cyrus would answer without missing a beat. 

Then the interviewer’s metaphorical face would grow serious and they’d say, ”So tell us. You’ve been finding yourself in quite a pickle lately” 

Cyrus would smile at the word choice, and laugh a little just to keep the mood in the studio light. ”I have indeed” he’d say. ”It’s been pretty rough, not gonna lie”

”You’ve found yourself stuck between the best friend and the boyfriend” 

”Boyfriend?” Cyrus would flush, and laugh awkwardly. ”Wha- he’s not- he’s a friend. A good. friend.” He’d stutter.

The interviewer would make a face to the audience and they’d laugh. 

”Sure” they would say, dragging the word out obnoxiously, making Cyrus’ ears turn red. ”A friend. As I understand it, your problem now is that you either lie to your best friend or you tell her the truth and potentially risk the life of your… good. friend. Correct?”

”Sadly, yes, that is the case” Cyrus would say, earning an awing sound of compassion from the audience. He’d frown and nod to them in appreciation, to gain additional sympathy. ”When you put it like that it sounds like a no-brainer, the truth vs someone’s life, but it’s more complicated than that…” 

”How so?”

”Like, I’m sure Buffy wouldn’t kill TJ, right? She’s a lot of things, but she’s not a killer. Her mom though… if she finds out there’s no telling what’ll happen. And I can’t risk that, of course not”

”Of course”

”But then… Buffy’s been my best friend since FOREVER. Together with Andi, of course. Like, she was the first person I came out to. She’s always had my back and we’ve told each other EVERYTHING. And I know she’s in distress because of the whole vampire thing. She’s doubting everything she’s ever known and I could just stop it if I told her what I know”

”She sure seems to mean a lot to you”

”She does! And then there’s TJ, of course”

”What about TJ?”

”Well, TJ’s… TJ’s different. He’s a really good person, and he can’t see it himself and I don’t think Buffy can either, yet, but… I’m sure if she gave him the time and chance, she’d see it too!” 

”So you’re thinking you can somehow convey Buffy’s views on vampires by proving that TJ is a good person?”

”Well… I just want her to get to know TJ before she finds out… about him. Then she’s gets to make an assessment, and maybe she’ll change her mind, but that’t not like, ’the plan’ or anything. I’m not purposefully trying to make her change her mind, I just want her to see another side of things before deciding, I guess”  
”…It sounds like you’re trying to change her mind”

”No! Did you not listen to what I just said?”

”I am a figment of your imagination, what I say you say and vice versa”

”…fair point.”

”Tell us more about TJ. I’m sure the audience is dying to know”

The audience would cheer.

Cyrus’ would feel the smile spreading on his face. ”Ok, well… Remember Jonah?”

”Oh, I think we all remember Jonah”

”It’s like that, but like… not at all at the same time. I recognize the signs, my heart is racing, my knees feel shaky, I feel all warm and…soft”

”Sounds like someone’s got a cruuuush”

”Oh yeah. Yeah, no, we’re way past that. Keep up, please”

”Again. I am you. We are one.” 

”But it’s also different, like… I really feel like we have a connection. I feel so comfortable around him, I feel… calm. And safe and, as cheesy as it sounds, home. It feels effortless… to be around him, I never feel like I’m not cool enough or try to appear like something I’m not like it was with Jonah” 

”Awww”

”But thing is, I’m the first real friend he seems to have had in years… I can’t screw that up by… feelings! You know?”

”I don’t, please elaborate”

”Imagine making a friend for the first time in a really long time and then they fall in love with you. Ok, falling in love might be a strong word… deeply admire. Nope, that might be worse, actually. Anyways. That’s too much for a first friendship, like, I can’t unload that on him!” 

”…so you’re afraid if you tell him, he’ll get overwhelmed and pull away?”  
”That is EXACTLY what I mean, thank you! You know, you and I are really similar, you know that?”

”…”

”But then at the same time… It feels special. Really special. He makes me feel special. In a good way, of course! And I really just want to tell him that, but I… can’t. I can’t!”

”Why not?” 

”Because he’ll get scared maybe. And close himself off again. He’s really trying, to make friends, to not be… the text book example of a vampire. And at this point, I think I’m the only one he feels really comfortable around, which is incredible in and of it self and more important than whatever I am feeling. And like, sure, if I feel like I’m gonna explode in an… internal…feely… emotion kind way everytime I see him, then that’s something I’ll have to live with. It’s to some degree what happened with Jonah, right? Eventually it’ll pass”

”But you don’t want it to pass”

”…no.”

”Because you’re sick of unrequited feelings?” 

”To be far, I think anyone who’s experienced that is sick of it. The big difference here is that.. Jonah was interested in Andi. And sure, we were friends, but there was never a chance of something else”

”But this time there is?”

”I don’t know! The thought of someone liking me back is just so… far away. It was never a question before. The answer would always be no. It felt like a pipe dream, an unreachable goal. But I swear, sometimes when he looks at me… it’s there. We make eye contact and… It’s like no one else is around. Like tunnel vision. But mutual. I think”

”Sounds like someone’s got a cruuuush”

”…We’ve covered this already”

”I’m not talking about you, Cyrus”

”Woah, ok, talk about jumping to conclusions.”

”Am I though?”

”Look… I’m terrified to even imagine it, ok?” 

”Why?”

”Because if I do, if I think of this wonderful future with him, and it’s bright and sunny, which we both know it wouldn’t be, because of the sun thing, and we go on dates and hold hands and stuff… I’ll imagine it and then fall into this irreversible hole where the fact that this will probably never be my reality is just… very hard to deal with”

”It might be, though. Your reality, I mean”

”I don’t know…. For all I know, this isn’t how vampire stuff works” 

”What do you mean?”

”We haven’t really talked about the… emotional parts of being a vampire. I have no idea how vampire feelings work”

”You don’t think they’re the same?”

”They could be! They could also not be? And even if they are the same, there’s the whole dilemma of acting on them, which, like yeah, I’m bad at that, but I don’t have the like… extra element of not being human, which must complicate things”  
”So let me get this straight, well.. let me get this right. You think a potential impossibility of your potential relationship is vampirism, because you don’t know if there’s a difference in the dating department between humans and vampires”

”TJ mentioned the people in his clan - his old clan, being born vampires, which implies that vampires usually dates other vampires, I’m guessing-”

”All this is just speculations, you know that, right?” 

”I know, but-”

”What about you?”

”Huh?”

”How would you feel dating a vampire?”

”That’s the thing! It wouldn’t even feel like that. Most of the time when we’re together, I forget that there’s this difference between us because it doesn’t feel like it at all. I… I wouldn’t mind at all”

”Ask him”

”Ok, imaginary person, you have no business telling me what to do…”

”I’m only saying what you’re thinking. Don’t shoot the messenger”

”You think I should talk to him about it?” 

”I think you have a bunch of questions that can be answered easily when asking the right source”

”…I did google it. BUT, it’s not like I got anything useful. Only Twilight stuff and a bunch of fan fiction, and lore but most of it doesn’t even seem to be true, like photographs or mirrors or immortality, so it didn’t really amount to anything. And it’s not like I could ask Buffy without a bunch of follow up questions from her, like why I would want to know about vampires and dating, and the answers would be really biased either way”

”So what you’re saying is…” 

”I’m saying I should talk to TJ?”

”Yes”

”He got a plant, did I tell you that?”

”Ok we’re changing the- You- Nevermind. No, you didn’t tell me that.”

”He named it and everything. Steve. So cute! He’s really… He’s making an effort. Like, the vampires Buffy’s told me about never would’ve bought any plants! Much less name them! Much less name them Steve!”

”So why don’t you tell Buffy about that? Maybe that’ll make her reconsider her stance on vampires”

”Well… It’s just… he told me that. It might not be personal information in that scale but he told me that personally. It feels wrong to disclose to someone else. BUT! I did see them laughing together, earlier! That was like… a gut punch but a good one? I don’t think there’s such a thing as a good gut punch, but that was what it was. Like, imagine someone reaching into your gut”

”…okay”

”And grabbing all of your positive feelings, and just… squeeze them. And it’s just all of them, at the same time. The things he does… they make me unbearably happy sometimes”

The interviewer would smile. 

”Cyrus” they’d say. ”Cyrus?” …wait a minute ”Cyrus!?”

”Huh?” Cyrus blinked, finding himself back in the art class room, Jonah staring at him wide eyed. He wondered in horror how loud his thoughts had been.

”You, like, disappeared for a while” Jonah said.

”Oh yeah, uh, sorry, I, uh, was, uh, daydreaming” he said, spluttering words everywhere to make a somewhat coherent sentence. 

Jonah nodded solemnly. ”About what?”

”…dinner” he said, his face growing red. 

”Cool” Jonah said slowly, still seemingly confused. ”Watcha having?”

”Huh?”

”For dinner?”

”Oh. I don’t know yet” 

What Cyrus did know, however, was that he needed to talk to TJ.

 

***

 

”Pineapple on pizza, yes or no?”

The question hit TJ before he was close enough to make out what the mural was supposed to be, even though upon closer look the blue outlines that had been added since he left didn’t offer much, except for the bottom of it being a big pool of, what he could only assume to be, water. 

Amber had been the one to ask him, which was shocking, and then confusing as he could not pinpoint why he found it shocking in the first place. 

”Uh” he felt there was probably a right answer to the question. However he was not the one to give it. ”Yes?”

”Wrong answer” Buffy said immediately. 

”Right answer” Marty said, and gave him an encouraging smile, that turned smug as he turned to Buffy. 

Buffy rolled her eyes. ”Gross”  
TJ couldn’t resist. ”Baby taters and milkshakes? Yes or no?”

Buffy’s face was one of utter betrayal. 

Andi burst out laughing. ”I think it’s a good opinion. Just like taters and shakes” 

There was a silence, one TJ felt mainly caused by his arrival and how it messed with the natural flow of the group, but maybe he was just being paranoid. He felt he had to say something. 

”The picture is coming together quite nicely” he said, landing his eyes on Andi as she was the project leader, and outside of Marty also the safest one in the group. 

She smiled brightly. ”Thank you!” 

He was tempted to ask what it was supposed to be when it was done, but was afraid he was supposed to be able to tell already and didn’t. 

”We are going to continue with the red paint now, I think, and it’ll be part of the sunrise and the figures at the bottom” Andi explained, not really clearing the motive of the mural up but at least providing a task, which was always appreciated, and then continued on to delegate individual tasks to everyone present. 

Soon, TJ found himself at the table of supplies, searching for the right brushes, when someone said from behind him:

”You don’t really eat pizza, do you?”

The words of suspicion wrapped around him like snow in an avalanche. He could feel the tightness in his chest when he said, ”What?” In a way that wasn’t even trying to hide the fear he was feeling. 

”You said you didn’t eat gluten, right?” Amber clarified. Her voice was much less hostile now, or maybe TJ just experienced it that way now when he saw her cheerful expression. She had a habit of giving TJ minor heart attacks, he had noticed, and he wasn’t fond of it. 

”Uhm, no, but… when I did I didn’t like pineapple on it, so…” he tried to explain, when in reality he had no recollection of ever eating it nor having an option on the subject. 

”I thought you said you liked it?” Amber asked casually, mindlessly picking up brushes, looking at them and then putting them back, like she never planned to use them in the first place. 

”Oh I did?” He laughed awkwardly. How could he have been so careless? Always stick to your story, the number one rule when lying. ”I meant the opposite, I guess”

”Buffy’ll be happy to hear that” Amber said, the hint of a smile on her face.

”Do we have to tell her?” TJ said, playfulness filling his tone. 

”No” Amber said, face cracking up. 

They laughed quietly together, having some kind of shared secret between them, neither sure what it truly was. 

”I don’t eat pizza either” Amber said after a while, quietly. 

She looked at him, trying to convey something with her eyes, trying to underline the importance of the statement that had gone over his head. 

”No?”

Something failed her. She gave him a disingenuous smile. 

”Nope!” she said with forced lightness ”I think it’s my turn to go wash the brushes, see you later” and then she was gone before he had a chance to respond. 

He was left dumbfounded. He was new to this friendship thing and it was starting to seem there was more codes and rules to obey than those of being a vampire. He wished he’d gotten the guidebook before starting this seemingly impossible task of making friends. A task he hadn’t even known he was on until he was knee-deep in it. 

”TJ!” A voice said behind him, like a wake up call one would give their friend. The freeness to it felt foreign to him, but it still made him, for a second, exist in a reality where people knew each other and not just knew the image they put out for the public to know. A reality where him being a vampire was a footnote, a quirk to laugh about, and not a secret of the life-threatening kind. 

Buffy had addressed him, which just fueled the impossibility of that reality even further.

”Could you grab more of the red paint?” She called out after him. 

The four of them, him, her, Andi and Marty, were not a match made in heaven but it left surprisingly little to be desired. Andi and Buffy were like two parts of the same machine, moving around each other with few words between them, not in the reluctant, non-communicative way TJ and Buffy had done earlier but in the way of two people knowing each other to the point of not needing words to communicate. Marty was like the yes men of an employers wet dream, despite his earlier problems with washing he had no issues with doing what he was told and nothing else. He seemed to be happy just to be there. 

TJ didn’t not enjoy his time with them, he thought as he paused for a moment to watch them work. It did scare him a little bit how fast he had gotten used to being around them and started feeling somewhat apart of the group, even without Cyrus’ by his side. With a bunch of people around him, roles scarily alike the ones of friends, the stakes had suddenly gotten way higher. 

But in the end none of mattered. It didn't matter how functioning Buffy and Andi were working together. It didn’t matter how Marty’s an ideal worker, how Amber left abruptly after having a better-than-decent conversation with him or how Jonah seemed to be at the wrong place at the wrong time all the time. It didn’t matter how Cyrus made him feel like there was something behind all the shallowness of humanity, something that actually did matter. 

It didn’t matter, any of it, when he went to the table of supplies to pick up some more paint and in an absentminded, friend-high state puts his hand on the table for balance and it. burns. 

He snatched his hand away the way a vampire would snatch their hand away from silver. Because on the table, the place where he hadn’t thought twice about leaning on, was Buffy’s bracelet, pure silver shining tauntingly in a way things shouldn’t be able to shine when in the shade. 

Pain like white noise shot through his arm, blinding everything, muting all his senses, filling his head with a silent scream waiting to get the green light to be let out. Biting his lip, feeling his eyes tear up, he focused all his strength, all the willpower he could muster up behind the immense pain on not making it worse by yelping or, perish the thought, showing his fangs the way he’d sometimes do when feeling threatened or in a position of weakness. 

Squeezing his eyes shut, tight grip around the place of his palm, between his index finger and thumb, that felt like it was on un-put-out-able fire. Deep breaths, not quite having the same calming effect it would have on someone who actually breathed regularly but the symbolism of it helped. Slowly moving his hand to regain the feeling of maneuvering it, focusing on the parts of his hand that weren’t singing a funeral song and attending their own wake. Fighting to ground himself in some reality that wasn’t just burning hellfire. 

”Are you ok?” Someone said in the distance. At first he wasn’t sure actual words had been uttered or if his brain had constructed the illusion of someone doing so, but as the ground started to feel present under his feet again and he could move outside of the pain for even a little bit, he realized they had been spoken and an answer was expected from him.

”Mhm” he said through gritted teeth and eyes still shut, very much not selling the image of someone that was ok. 

”What happened?” TJ realized that the voice wasn’t as far away as he’d first appreciated and that it belonged to Buffy, sounding more concerned than he had given her credit for. It was everything he needed right there, he thought, if what he needed was the worst possible scenario.

”I bur-roke my hand. Broke” he said, now fighting another pain, the pain of being on the verge of losing everything he had collected within the last couple of months. That felt worse than the possibility of losing his life.

His survival ever since he got closer to this group of people had been relying on dumb luck, it dawned on him with a bitterness to the realization, and it only felt natural that a dumb mistake would be his downfall. He squinted, trying to see what Buffy’s next move would be, if she would strike on the spot or wait until she had an opportunity to get him alone. 

”YOU BROKE YOUR HAND?!” Buffy exclaimed, the urgency and volume of her voice slapping him in the face, getting him further away from the pain and closer to the very reality of the situation he had to deal with. 

”No!” TJ said quickly. ”Bruised it, I meant. I bruise easy”

Buffy blinked. She glanced at the table and then back at him again. 

”I should probably get it checked up” TJ said, wishing to not spend another second in the position he currently found himself in. 

”Do you want someone to come with you?” Buffy asked, genuinely concerned it seemed, and TJ wanted to say yes except he undeniably did not since he wasn’t actually getting his - silver burn - checked up and also was still not really comfortable with the one on one time that would endue, especially not with the very vampiric wound on his hand. 

He smiled somewhat apologetically and said, ”Uhm no, thanks but I’ll manage” trying to not come of too sarcastic and half-succeeding. Being nice was much harder than not. 

He went to leave, but stopped himself, cringing, straightening out his face and turning back to Buffy. ”Tell Cyrus I had to go, will you?”

Buffy gave him a closed-mouth smile and said ”Of course” with a voice mixed between reassuring and what sounded awfully closed to a knowing disappointment that made TJ’s chest ache a little. 

He left with the impression that he had actually, magically, unbelievably made it out without being discovered.

On his way home he received a text from Cyrus that made his chest ache in a different way, telling him that Cyrus was sad TJ had to go but was happy that he came, and TJ wanted to explain what had happened but it didn’t feel right to do so over text. Instead he excused that he had to leave and asked if they could hang out sometime next week, to which Cyrus answered that they absolutely could and TJ got this feeling of unapologetic happiness all the way through his body. 

He went home and talked to Steve about it. 

He left that night to hunt, filled with a hubristic sense of victory, hand wrapped in bandages and hope that it would heal fast, feeling like if he could get through all the obstacles he had encountered that day, there was very little left he couldn’t handle, a sense that only increased in confidence as he came home from his hunt successful.

This feeling was quick to sink to his feet, through the floor and down in the basement, because when he got home he found Buffy standing in his kitchen. 

***  
…  
…  
…  
…  
…

Reed started his evening by scrolling through instagram.

It was one of his favorite things to do while slowly coming out of the sleepy haze of waking up. Mindnumbing content fed right though the screen of a phone, requiring minimal brainpower to take in any of it. Perfect for a still not completely awake mind. 

The light from the phone screen hurt his eyes a little as it lit up the otherwise pitch black coffin he was laying in, but he had never been much of a reader and if he didn’t focus on something he’d be at risk of falling asleep again. 

This particular day, however, it didn’t take much scrolling for him to wake up though; the content he soon stumbled upon made him rise so fast he hit his head on the coffin lid. 

Not wasting anytime letting the pain sink in, he pushed the lid off and climbed out of the coffin with some effort. 

Barefoot, still in his pajamas, he hurried over the floor, across the hall and knocked urgently on the door opposite to his. Without waiting for a reply, he opened it and entered the room behind it. 

The blinds were still drawn, the room was still and unmoved since last morning. 

Reed wasn’t surprised. Rolling his eyes, he wasted no time moving over to the coffin resting in the middle of the room. 

”Yo! Wake up!” He said loudly, disrupting the silence hanging in the room by banging his fists on the top of the coffin lid. 

”Go away!” Came a muffled groan from inside the coffin.

Reed missed Lester. He was so uncomplicated, a yes man, you never had to ask Lester twice. The new resident of the coffin however… still going through a teenage rebellion phase despite not really having parents to rebel against, so she took what she could get. 

”Today is not the day for this, Kira!” Reed warned through the wooden surface. ”I have something you need to see” 

”You’ve used ’need’ in vain multiple times before, Reed, I’m not dumb. Now leave me alone” 

Reed really missed Lester. 

”You have ten seconds until I open the coffin myself” Reed warned, feeling the fight severely taking away the excitement he’d felt about his discovery. ”This is different, ok? Ten! Nine!” 

There was a three second silence, long enough for Reed to start suspecting she’d reversed to the oh so annoying tactic of pretending to not hear, ”Eight!”, when the lid slid open, first slowly then a little more, revealing Kira’s face, expression filled to the brim with annoyance. 

”This. Better. Be. Good” she said, biting off every word. 

”Oh it is” Reed assured her. ”You know how I follow a lot of artists on instagram because I feel like they’re actually really talented but because it’s instagram they often go unnoticed due to the format taking away from the beauty of the art as well as instagram clearly not prioritizing-”

”Dude. I hate you.” Kira said, straining to close the coffin lid again.

”Wait!” Reed held a hand on the lid, stopping Kira from closing it whilst opening his phone with his other hand. ”Look at this!” 

Kira squinted at the screen, eyes unused to the brightness. ”Art-by-Andi” she read from the username. ”So? I swear, if you woke me up just to look at ’cool art’” she said mockingly ”I’ll kill you. Like dead for real this time”

Reed rolled his eyes. ”Look at the people” 

Kira looked again. ”A bunch of nerds? So?”

”No, look at them” Reed said again, putting emphasis on each word. He zoomed in the picture. ”See?”

”I am losing my patience, Dipshit” she said, tone of voice highlighting how little patience she had left. ”These people are nobody’s to me, and if I’m supposed to know any of them I’ve forgotten them ok? Tell me what the deal is, or let me sleep” 

”Riiiiight” Reed came to a realization. ”You never knew him, how stupid of me”

”Ya think?” 

”This” he zoomed in on one face in particular ”Is Thelonious” 

”Wait… WHAT?” Now it was Kira’s turn to rise so fast she hit her shoulder on the half open lid. ”Ow” she groaned, roughly pushing the lid off completely. 

”Yeah, dude!” Reed said, as the excitement he had felt before all the arguing began to resurface. 

”This is Thelonious? THE Thelonious?” Kira looked wide eyed and impressed. 

”The one and only” Reed was starting to feel smug. He was the one who had found him after all. 

Kira looked at the phone again. ”Shadyside?” She read off it, then scoffed. ”That’s just too good to be true, isn’t it?”

”Is that what they call…” Reed did a dramatic pause ”…hiding in plain sight?” 

”No. No, it’s not” 

”All roads lead to Shadyside?” 

”Don’t hurt yourself”

”…When in Shadyside?” 

”Shut up!” Kira snapped. Gracefully, she jumped out of her coffin. ”Let’s go find this bastard and get what he owes us”

”Technically he doesn’t owe YOU anything, you weren’t even here”

”He does by association”

”…whatever. Let’s go find Thelonious!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is sponsored by the six hour train ride between Hamburg and Copenhagen, additional two hours of standing still in Lübeck included. It was good cause I got to be productive but also, god it dragged. The first part of this chapter is like... there, and it's weird, but I got sick of the blocks of text when writing inner monologue so I thought this'd be more exciting. And it was fun to write. It's also taken from my own mind, I do the interview thing sometimes, but with less correspondence I guess. As for the pineapple on pizza thing, yes it belongs there. I might not be the biggest pizza eater but when I do, you better believe there's pineapple on that thing. Oh and Reed and Kira at the end? Whaaaaaat who would've seen that coming? Not me. Well. Yes me. I was like... people talk about Amber/TJ as siblings.... what would be even better... REED/KIRA!!! Jk. I adore the Kippen siblings hc, it didn't really fit with TJ's whole "loner" vibe in this story but hey... it isn't over yet. To think it was supposed to be ten chapters originally. We're at chapter eight and might be... halfway through. Talk about zero self awareness. Anyways. Also, if you're a... [someone that paints regularly] just... forget what you know about painting, yes? I know how the usual process goes but I've tweaked it to fit into one scene so just... ok? just...ok? It's like... this story is about vampires but THE PAINTING is unrealistic. It's late and my brain is like... walking through fudge to get thoughts out. So imma go. THANK YOU FOR READING: it is a pleasant experience when people do, especially if they like it. Keep commenting and stuff if you want it really means a lot. If you want to. I'm like an animal. I'm probably more scared of you. Unless it's like a animal that eats humans. Then you should be scared. What? Anyways. THANK YOU! GOODNIGHT!


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